Articles
Misjudged
Not long ago, I was driving with my wife and son to a nearby restaurant when we came to our turnoff and saw a highly-lifted truck sitting on the center curb, with heavy damage to the front of the truck, having apparently recently struck the rock-reinforced sign in the center divider. He apparently misjudged either (1) the distance to the turnoff or (2) his speed as he attempted to make the turn, or both. It was not a pretty sight.
Many years ago, when I was living in the Los Angeles area and was headed to work early one morning [2:00 a.m.], I happened to look up in my rear-view mirror and noticed a number of police cars with lights flashing, approaching rapidly, covering all four lanes of the freeway. I also noticed the silhouette of a car in front of them, with no lights on. As I was only about a quarter mile from my turnoff, I signaled to make the turn and it apparently inspired the driver of the lights-out car to also try to make that turn. Let me just say it was one of those exit ramps where you have about 50 feet and a 90-degree turn at the end of the ramp. He didn’t make it. The car went wide and crashed through the fence and into someone’s backyard, and was followed quickly by those police cars, which quickly surrounded him. He tried to get out and run, but didn’t make it very far. He misjudged the turn and his ability to outrun the law enforcement vehicles and officers.
I would imagine all of us have made similar [but maybe far less dangerous] mistakes, misjudging something or someone and ending up in a worse condition. Maybe we were playing around with one of our siblings and misjudged how far their nose was from our fist as we were goofing off. Maybe we misjudged how far our car could go after the gas tank light came on. Maybe we misjudged how soon our funds would be deposited before we wrote a check, and it was returned “NSF.” Embarrassing, highly inconvenient, and sometimes painful!
But there are many occasions where we misjudge people, and it is more than just embarrassing, inconvenient, or even painful; many times, it is just wrong. Many times, our misjudgment comes because of a lack of information; sometimes it is because the individual did not act according to our expectations, based on our past experiences; but sometimes, it is because we are just too quick to make a judgment about someone else, and have little concern for whether we are right or fair, or how such judgments will be received.
And if you’re thinking, “I would never do that!” I would ask you to think again and consider just how often our misjudgments are pronounced or, if left unspoken, at least enter our own minds. Consider just a few examples from Scripture:
Jesus. We might as well start with the one who was probably misjudged most often! First of all, Jesus was rejected by many in the first century simply because He did not fit their preconceived expectations of who and what the Christ would be and what He came to do. Many Jews were looking for a King similar to David or Solomon, and who would restore Israel’s borders and greatness to where it once was under those famous Kings. Jesus did not come to do that, instead telling a Roman-appointed governor, “My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, My servants would fight, so that I should not be delivered to the Jews; but now My kingdom is not from here” (John 18:36). Some today persist in misjudging Jesus in this same way, expecting and preaching a kingdom yet to come, and which will be established here on earth. If the written word of God will not convince them to correct their misjudgment of Jesus and what He will do when He comes again (see also 1 Thess. 4:13-17 and 1 Cor. 15:20-28), then I have no answer.
The religious leaders also misjudged and then rejected Jesus because He did not shy away from “eating with the tax collectors and sinners” (Mark 2:16); that is something they would have never even considered doing, and they believed the Christ would definitely not do that, so they would not even consider His claim to be the Christ as realistic. When He said, “You cannot serve God and mammon,” when “the Pharisees, who were lovers of money, also heard all these things,…they derided Him” (Luke 16:13, 14). Read that again: “They derided Him” — they derided [ridiculed, insulted, mocked] the Christ and Son of God. That’s what men will do when they misjudge.
And try to put yourself in Jerusalem about 2000 years ago, when you suddenly come upon a scene where the Roman soldiers are marching a man to his death, to be crucified. Having heard that only the worst criminals and threats to government are crucified, you conclude this man must have nothing good that could be said about him. Except that man is Jesus. It would be easy to come upon the scene of this man hanging on a cross and presume he was a criminal or traitor to the government or a serious troublemaker. But this was Jesus. Without enough information, any one of us could have misjudged Him, based on only that scene, or what the religious leaders said about Him. But that is the problem with much of our judgments: We lack enough information, or unbiased information.
The Apostles. Jesus did not go to the religious schools or look amongst the nobles or recruit from the powerful classes for His closest disciples, the apostles; no, He chose fishermen, a political zealot, and a tax collector. Only Paul would be one of much education and religious training. But when the apostles were brought before the religious council [the Sanhedrin] and asked, “By what power or by what name have you done this?” when Peter answered, the council, “when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated and untrained men, they marveled. And they realized that they had been with Jesus” (Acts 4:5-13). These religious leaders misjudged these lowly men, and so did anyone else who thought they would come to nothing.
The Word of God. These same men [along with many others whom they taught] brought the gospel message into the whole world (Col. 1:6) and were responsible for changing lives and saving souls. It is because they and others — some who had been driven out of their homes because of persecution — “went everywhere preaching the word” (Acts 8:4). If anyone thought God should have used the powerful and mighty and highly-educated to convince the world, they seriously misjudged the power of the gospel message. It is not in any man that the power to save rests, but in the word of God, “for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes” (Rom. 1:16). From the beginning, disciples taught and preached “words by which [any who hear and obey] will be saved” (Acts 11:14).
Today, even religious leaders, scholars, and teachers disparage the word of God as it is found within the Bible. Many say it is outdated, irrelevant, and unfit for modern man. Those who think so are seriously misjudging the word of God!
If we have judged Jesus unworthy of our time and unworthy of our service, and if we have judged His word to be out of touch with today’s world, just keep in mind He and those words will be what judges you in the last day (John 12:47, 48). When He pronounces judgment on us then, it will be perfect judgment. — Steven Harper
