Are We Judging the Wrong People?

A few days ago, something in my community caught my attention. A local bar was hosting a large Sunday afternoon party. If I'm being honest, my first reaction was frustration. Sunday is the Lord's Day. It should be a day set apart for worship, rest, and remembering Christ. Seeing it treated like any other day troubled me.

But as I reflected on Scripture, God gently challenged my heart.

One passage in particular stood out. In 1 Corinthians 5:12–13, the Apostle Paul writes:

"For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Is it not those inside the church whom you are to judge? God judges those outside."

Those words are both simple and profound.

Paul reminds us that there is an important distinction between those who belong to Christ and those who do not. We should not expect people who have never surrendered their lives to Jesus to live according to His commands. They don't yet have the new heart that Christ gives or the indwelling Holy Spirit who transforms believers from the inside out.

That doesn't mean sin is no longer sinful. It doesn't mean we celebrate what God calls wrong. But it does mean we should not be surprised when unbelievers live like unbelievers.

Instead of responding with anger, perhaps our first response should be compassion.

Before Christ saved us, every one of us was spiritually dead. We were separated from God and living according to our own desires. As Paul reminds us in Ephesians 2, "we all once lived" that way. The only difference between us and those who do not know Christ is the grace of God.

Jesus Himself modeled this perfectly.

He never compromised the truth, yet His harshest words were usually reserved for religious hypocrisy, not for broken people searching for hope. He ate with tax collectors. He spoke with sinners. He showed mercy to those society had written off while calling them to repentance and faith.

As Christians, our mission is not simply to make unbelievers behave better. Our mission is to introduce them to Jesus Christ.

Behavior modification is not the gospel. Heart transformation is.

When Christ changes a person's heart, their priorities begin to change. Their desires change. Their worship changes. Their life changes.

So when I see my community making choices that dishonor God, I want my first response to be prayer rather than outrage.

Instead of asking, "How can they do that?"

Perhaps I should ask, "How can I point them to the Savior?"

The world desperately needs the truth, but it also desperately needs compassion.

May we never lower God's standards. But may we also never forget that before people need correction, they need Christ.

After all, someone showed compassion to us when we were still far from God.

Let's do the same for others.