With Righteous Judgment - John 7:24

As for passages from scripture most often misused and misinterpreted, Matthew 7:1 ranks among the highest. "Judge not, that you be not judged." Misused by unbelievers and Christians alike, the passage is usually seen in a vacuum, by itself, and completely out of context. The abusers of this verse choose to see it as a solitary accusation against anyone who would try to practice a bit of discernment or Godly discrimination.
The accusers fail to even see it in light of the very next verse, Matt 7:2 - "For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you." They seldom regard this secondary caveat either out of ignorance of holy scripture or because it suggests or implies that there may very well be instances and situations that require us to discern (judge) the actions or behavior of others.
Scripture is ripe with cautions about judging others; and well it should be, especially considering the ease with which many of us slip into harsh self-righteous legalism. However, there is one passage in scripture that those who love to fall back on Matt 7:1 will not, under any circumstances ever quote. John 7:24 - "Do not judge by appearances, but judge with
righteous judgment." God wants; no, God expects us to use critical discernment when it comes to spiritual issues. We are not to walk blindly in order to avoid the pitfall of possibly pre-judging someone or their actions. He merely wants us to avoid judging simply by the appearance of someone or their actions.
The Greek word for ‘righteous’ comes from the word ‘dikē’ or ‘self-evident.’ A person’s words and actions are all that’s often needed to convict them. Sometimes it requires no judgment on our part at all to discern that a person is culpable. Their actions speak volumes and thus their motivations are self-evident. Look at it another way - were someone to tell you they would meet you at 3 o’clock would it be unrighteous on your part to assume they will do as they said? You would merely be relying on that individual’s verbalized intent. There is no legalism involved here nor is there any unrighteous judgment involved. And if you’re a person true to your word and prompt, it is a measure you would not fear to be judged by.
You see, we only have a person’s word (verbalized intent) or actions to grasp their position. We can’t read their minds and we can’t know their hearts; only God can do that. So we are left with trusting their words and observing their actions to determine their intent. That is not a judgment we are forbidden to make. In fact, it is specifically this type of judgment that God expects us to make.
This is not to say for even the breathe of a moment that we can never take something at face-value. In a war-time situation the appearance of the enemy in the enemy’s uniform, with his rifle aimed at you is probably going to be one of those moments that a judgment by appearance may be exactly what is called for. If your intention is to live, of course. There will certainly be times in our lives that ‘it is what it is,’ and we are not to forfeit our duty to exercise some Godly discrimination..

Righteous judgment is what God expects of us and when exercised with Godly intentions it is correct to make the call. And be sure that you are never again held hostage by an errant passage from scripture being utilized by someone who hasn’t got the foggiest idea what it really means. May God bless you and keep you.