A snapshot from 2023, a moment future historians will likely refer to as the “post-COVID era.”
“Spread kindness, not germs.” Good advice, but what happens when kindness means speaking a truth someone doesn’t want to hear?
Somewhere along the way, we’ve confused Biblical correction with condemnation, and one of Jesus’ most quoted teachings has become one of His most misunderstood.
Every time we post something about a belief, habit, or cultural trend, someone seems to hear a personal accusation.
“You’re judging people.”
“You don’t know my situation.”
“Who are you to say that?”
Sometimes the comments make it sound as if we tagged someone by name, described their private life, and announced a verdict over their soul.
But we didn’t.
We shared a message with the world. We don’t know every person who reads it.
We’re not claiming to know their motives, their history, or the details of their walk with God.
So why does a general post feel personal to someone?
That is a question worth asking. But before we talk about social media, we need to talk about the Bible.
Because “Do not judge” has become one of the most misunderstood and misused statements Jesus ever spoke.
The verse is real. Jesus said it.
But many people use it to mean something He did not say:
Never discern.
Never confront.
Never name sin.
Never challenge what someone believes or does.
That reading cannot be squared with the rest of Scripture.
Jesus Did Not Forbid Discernment
In Matthew 7:1, Jesus says:
“Judge not, that you be not judged.” — Matthew 7:1
Then He warns about judging others by a standard we refuse to apply to ourselves.
His image is intentionally ridiculous: someone with a log in his eye offering to remove a speck from another person’s eye.
But notice how the passage ends.
“You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.” — Matthew 7:5
Jesus does not say, “Leave the speck alone.”
The goal is not to ignore the problem. The goal is to approach it with humility, honesty, and a clear view of our own need for grace.
That matters.
Jesus condemns hypocrisy, not every act of moral discernment.
He rejects the self-righteous person who is eager to expose someone else while refusing to examine himself. He does not teach that sin should never be named or that a brother or sister should never be helped toward repentance.
In John 7:24, Jesus tells His listeners:
“Do not judge by appearances, but judge with right judgment.” — John 7:24
That is not an invitation to make reckless assumptions about people. It is a command to see beyond appearances and make judgments that are right.
The Bible’s teaching is not, “Judge everyone however you want.”
It is also not, “Never judge anything.”
It calls us to discern truth from error, wise choices from foolish ones, and fruit that honors God from fruit that does not.
“The Spiritual Person Judges All Things” Does Not Mean “I Can Condemn You”
“The spiritual person judges all things, but is himself to be judged by no one.” — 1 Corinthians 2:15
In context, Paul is describing spiritual discernment: the difference between receiving the things of God through the Spirit and evaluating them only by human wisdom.
The verse is not a blank check to pass sentence on another person’s soul.
That distinction is essential.
Christians are called to test ideas, teachings, habits, and fruit against Scripture.
We are not given God’s authority to declare who is beyond mercy, who is beyond repentance, or what someone’s eternal standing is.
Judging an idea is not the same as condemning a person.
Saying, “This teaching contradicts Scripture,” is not the same as saying, “I know your heart and God has rejected you.”
Saying, “This behavior is sinful,” is not the same as saying, “You are nothing but your worst choice.”
If we blur those distinctions, we make honest correction impossible. And if every statement about right and wrong is labeled “judgment,” then truth itself becomes unspeakable.
But the New Testament does not treat accountability as an optional extra.
“Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted.” — Galatians 6:1
Restoration, gentleness, and self-examination belong together.
The purpose is not to humiliate someone. It is not to score a point or prove that we are better.
The purpose is to help a person turn back toward God.
“I’m grateful to be here, receiving encouragement, recipes, and whole-body transformation. Even after trying times, I trust you and Mama Z. The spiritual aspect completes the system: body, soul, and spirit.”
— Ellen D.
The Church Is Called to Help One Another
The Bible describes Christian life as life together. That means encouragement, service, patience, and love.
It also means we do not pretend sin is harmless when Scripture says it is destructive.
Jesus gives a process for addressing sin between believers in Matthew 18.
Paul urges believers to restore one another gently in Galatians 6.
James says that turning someone back from wandering can be an act of rescue.
These instructions make no sense if Christians are forbidden to speak honestly to one another about sin.
There is a difference between correction and condemnation.
Correction says, “I care about you enough to tell you the truth, and I want to see you restored.”
Condemnation says, “You have failed, and I am finished with you.”
Correction leaves room for repentance, growth, forgiveness, and mercy. Condemnation acts as though the person’s story is over and we have the authority to write the ending.
Christians should be very careful with the second. We should not be careless with the first.
That does not mean everyone is called to confront every person about every disagreement.
It does not mean a social media post is the same thing as a private conversation between church members. It does mean we should stop treating the word judgment as if it automatically proves that someone has sinned by speaking.
Sometimes discernment is obedience. Sometimes silence is not kindness.
And sometimes a hard truth, spoken in love, is one of the ways God calls people to consider their lives.
A General Post Is Not a Private Accusation
Now, let’s talk about the reaction we keep seeing online.
We write about a trend, a belief, a habit, or a message that is circulating in public.
We don’t tag a person.
We don’t claim to know the private circumstances of everyone who reads it.
We are speaking to a broad audience about something we believe deserves examination.
Then someone responds as if we have looked directly into their life and accused them personally.
“I feel attacked.”
“You don’t know me.”
“You have no right to judge.”
We understand that words can land in ways we did not intend.
Writers should care about their tone.
We should be willing to hear when we have spoken carelessly, misunderstood someone, or gone beyond what we can responsibly claim.
But a reader’s feeling of being addressed does not automatically mean the writer aimed the post at that reader.
There is a difference between “This made me think about my choices” and “You posted this to attack me.”
One is a response to a message. The other is a conclusion about the author’s intention.
Unless the author named you or gave clear evidence that the post was about you, that conclusion may say more about how the message touched a nerve than about who it targeted.
That is not a diagnosis.
We cannot look at a comment and know someone’s heart. We don’t know whether the person is hurt, angry, embarrassed, misunderstood, or simply disagreeing with us.
But we can ask a fair question: Why do we sometimes hear a broad challenge as though it were a private accusation?
Social media gives us a strange mix of public speech and private feeling.
We read a post alone on a phone, in the middle of our own story. We bring our history, beliefs, fears, and experiences with us.
A message addressed to thousands can feel as if it is speaking directly to us. Sometimes that recognition is helpful.
Sometimes we may need to slow down before deciding that the writer meant to shame us.
A post can challenge you without targeting you. It can make you uncomfortable without condemning you.
It can ask you to reconsider something without claiming to know every reason you made a particular choice.
“Thank you so much for everything you all do, and especially today for the Scriptures. I really needed those today.”
— Mary G.
Conviction Is Not Proof of an Attack
There is another possibility we should be willing to consider: sometimes a message feels personal because it touches something personal.
That does not prove the writer was right in every detail. It does not mean every uncomfortable feeling is the Holy Spirit convicting you.
We must not use religious language to claim certainty about another person’s inner life, but discomfort alone does not prove that someone has attacked you, either.
When Scripture challenges us, we can respond in several ways.
We can test what we heard.
We can ask God for wisdom.
We can consider whether the message is true, partly true, or wrong.
We can seek counsel from people who know us.
We can repent where we need to repent, and disagree where we believe the message is mistaken.
What we should not do is make “I felt judged” the final argument.
Feelings are real, but they do not settle the question of whether a claim is true or whether a correction was fair.
If someone tells us, “This practice is harmful,” we can discuss the evidence and the reasoning.
If someone says, “This belief conflicts with Scripture,” we can open the Bible and examine the interpretation.
We can say, “You misunderstood me,” or, “That does not apply to my situation.” Those are conversations.
But “You’re judging me” can become a way to end the conversation before the idea itself is examined.
It shifts attention from the claim to the speaker’s supposed motive. Once the speaker is cast as a judgmental person, there is no need to consider whether the warning had any truth in it.
That is not accountability. It is a shutdown.
Speak Truth With Humility, Not Fear
We have to apply all of this to ourselves too.
Which means that if we are going to speak about discernment, we must be willing to be examined. If we tell others to repent, we must be willing to repent.
If we call out pride, we must ask whether pride is growing in us. And if we challenge a belief, we must handle Scripture carefully and refuse to pretend that our interpretation is infallible.
The log in our own eye matters. Our own need for grace matters.
The way we speak matters. The possibility that we could be wrong matters.
But humility is not the same as silence. Gentleness is not the same as avoiding hard truths.
Grace is not pretending that every belief, practice, or cultural trend is harmless.
The Christian life calls us to hold truth and mercy together. We do not have to choose between speaking honestly and loving people.
In fact, love is one reason we must sometimes speak honestly.
A warning can be an act of care. Correction can be an act of hope.
Discernment can protect people from ideas and practices that lead them away from wisdom and toward harm.
So when we post about something we believe needs to be challenged, we are not automatically judging the private heart of every person who has encountered it. We are asking people to think.
To test what they hear. To open Scripture.
To seek God’s wisdom. To consider whether a popular idea is actually producing good fruit.
You may disagree with our conclusion. You may believe we have missed something.
Tell us why.
Bring Scripture, a thoughtful argument and help us see what we might have overlooked.
But please do not confuse a public challenge with a private accusation simply because the subject matters to you.
And please do not use “Do not judge” to mean that Christians must never discern, warn, correct, or call one another back to God.
Jesus warned us against hypocritical judgment. He also taught righteous judgment.
Paul called believers to spiritual discernment and gentle restoration.
The church is not called to condemn people. It is called to love people enough to care about truth, repentance, and the possibility of restoration.
The question is not whether Christians should ever judge. Scripture answers that.
The question is whether we will judge righteously: with humility, under God’s Word, aware of our own need for mercy, and always hoping for restoration.
A Prayer for You. 🙏
Father God, help me to love Your truth, even when it challenges me, makes me uncomfortable, or reveals something in my life that needs to change.
Forgive me for the times I’ve been quick to take offense, slow to receive correction, or more concerned with defending myself than listening to Your voice.
Show me where pride, fear, or stubbornness may be keeping me from growing closer to You.
And Lord, when I’m called to speak up, give me the courage to stand firm on Your Word without becoming harsh, critical, or self-righteous.
Remind me that I don’t have it all figured out. I need Your grace, Your wisdom, and Your loving correction every single day.
Help me discern what is right without condemning others, receive truth without becoming defensive, and lovingly encourage others toward repentance and restoration.
May my heart always be soft toward You, my words seasoned with grace, and my life a reflection of Jesus.
Amen.
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This was a great article!!
Thank you for needed guidance in a truly gnarly area.