Ellen DeGeneres and Simon Cowell

Fox is scrambling to come up with a team of judges for its hit television show, “American Idol”. They have known for some time that Simon Cowell was leaving the show. Now, Ellen DeGeneres has announced that after just one year, she too is departing.

One reason DeGeneres gives for bowing out of the job is that she found it hard to judge people and sometimes hurt their feelings. If only more people were so hesitant to be judgmental! Fortunately for Fox, there are a number of candidates who would jump at the chance to display their skills at judging others.

If we are not careful, we can find ourselves being far too judgmental. Jesus saw the need to address this issue in his Sermon on the Mount. Matt.7:1—“Do not judge, or you too will be judged.”

Jesus is not teaching that we must never attempt to correct anyone’s poor behavior. In the verses that follow he clarifies what he means by saying we shouldn’t try to get a speck out of someone else’s eye when we have a plank in our own eye. Remove the plank from your eye first; then get the speck out of your friend’s eye. Jesus is teaching that we shouldn’t judge in a hypocritical manner.

It is sad to say that hypocritical judging takes place where we work, where we live…and even where we worship. There is no shortage of judges who can’t see their own faults, but have keen insights on other people’s shortcomings and are happy to point them out.

Let us not rush to judgment. Always remember the picture Jesus puts in our minds of a ridiculous man with a 2 x 4 sticking out of his eye, trying to help someone who has a minor vision problem.