Daily Encouragement Plus with Ike Idegbema

[Rev. Ike Augustine Idegbema]

Hear Both Sides before You Judge (Daily Encouragement Plus with Ike Idegbema) “Our law doesn’t judge a man before it hears from him and knows what he’s doing, does it?” (John 7: 51) Bible Reading: Proverbs 18: 1-13 Not too long ago, my cousin’s ex-wife wrote to express her disappointment over my attitude towards her and my cousin’s divorce: that it seemed I had joined the rest of my family to support my cousin without hearing her side of the matter. When I heard that, I felt bad not because of her, but because by my failure to contact her early enough, I caused her more pains and failed in my role as a minister of God. I later responded to her that as a Christians I do not have the luxury of judging or making an informed decision on any matter until I have heard both sides of the story. We stand the danger of bringing judgment upon ourselves whenever we want to take the place of God and start to judge people without first hearing them out no matter how convincing the version we heard sounded. In our Bible text this today, Nicodemus the religious leader who came to see Jesus secretly in chapter 3, asked his colleagues if the same law that they fighting to protect judge a man before it hears from him. So often Christians hastily form opinions over matters that they heard from one “good brother” or “good sister” I have found myself in situations like this and most often, I end up being appalled by my quick and unchristian conclusions over a matter: coming to conclusion without getting all the facts in place. But where I am now, I am applying the lessons learned from my past experiences. So whenever anyone comes to me with an accusation against someone and wants me to believe that he is too good or spiritual by backing his stories with some religious or bible overtones, I either insist on hearing both sides or just simply ignore his accusation, because as the saying goes, “the accuse has right to his day in court too” Whenever we are involved in a dispute involving two parties, let’s learn to keep our opinions until we have heard both sides of the matter, because they both may be right or wrong-only God knows.