Judgment Rebalanced: Finding the Balance of Righteousness

Hi Everyone!

I hope you all had an enjoyable weekend :). Today I’m tackling a topic that makes most of us squirm: Judgment.

I hate feeling judged—life’s hard enough without snide comments or biased opinions piling on. People love quoting “Judge not” (Matthew 7:1), thinking it means only God should judge, and we should steer clear. But Jesus didn’t stop there—He said, “First remove the beam from your own eye, then help with the splinter in your brother’s” (Matthew 7:5).

It’s not a ban; it’s a warning against hypocrisy.

Truth is, we all judge, even when we pretend we don’t. Some say Christians judge the world (think gay issues, abortion), but calling Christians intolerant is judgment too.

So instead of throwing judgment around like a weapon—or avoiding it entirely—what if we’re meant to use it as a tool? Not to measure others, but to discern truth. Not to condemn behavior, but to trace beliefs.

Let’s rethink judgment—not as a gavel, but as a mirror.

1️⃣ Why Judgment Really Feels Wrong

Judgment stings—but not just because it exposes us. Sometimes it feels wrong because it’s been misused.

We often use judgment as a comparison tool, not a truth-telling one.

• We judge others to feel morally superior.

• We judge situations to feel in control.

• We judge outcomes to decide if someone “deserves” what they got.

  
  

  All of it feeds the ego—but none of it brings clarity.

  
  

The Pharisees were masters at this—polished on the outside, cruel within. They thought righteousness meant rules, but their lives bore mean fruit: pride, judgmentalism, burdening others (Matthew 23:4). What if righteous judgment was never about condemning others… or even elevating ourselves?

What if it was about discernment—about looking at the fruit of our lives and asking: “What does this say about what I truly believe? And does that belief align with a God who is good?”

We don’t always know what we believe consciously. But Jesus said, “Let it be done unto you according to your faith” (Matthew 9:29). So we can look at what’s being done unto us—the experiences, relationships, recurring cycles—and reverse-engineer our belief system.

Here’s what I’ve found:

Your life is always in balance with your beliefs.

But your beliefs may not be in balance with the heart of a good God.

Take Paul, for example. He passionately believed that suffering was a way to prove his love for God—a badge of devotion. And because of that belief, suffering defined his story. He was beaten, imprisoned, and eventually beheaded.

But here’s the deeper question: Did Paul suffer because God demanded it… or because he believed that devotion required it?

Some might point to Jesus and say, “But God asked His Son to suffer.” But the cross wasn’t just about suffering—it was about redemption, exchange, and eternal rescue. Jesus' path was unique, and His suffering had a cosmic purpose no other person was called to replicate.

Paul, however, seemed to model his life after Christ in ways that blurred roles. He loved the church like a groom loves a bride. He called himself a spiritual father. He poured himself out completely.

But Paul wasn’t called to be the groom to the Church—Jesus was. Paul was part of the Bride, just like the rest of us. Perhaps Paul was trying to live a role God never asked him to play. And because of that belief, his life reflected it. God didn’t punish Paul. But He allowed Paul’s life to stay in balance with what Paul believed—because spiritual laws respond to faith, not just actions.

Judgment, then, becomes a gift. Not to shame us—but to help us wake up. To look at the life we’re living and ask: Does this reflect the character of a good God? Or the beliefs I’ve unknowingly inherited or absorbed?

2️⃣ Justice as Balance, Not a Straight Line

If judgment helps us trace the fruit of our lives, then justice reveals whether those beliefs are in balance with God’s design.

But we often misunderstand justice. We picture it like a scoreboard:

Do good → get rewarded. Do bad → get punished.

That’s why we get confused when someone kind suffers, or someone cruel prospers. It feels unfair—like justice failed. But in the Bible, justice isn’t a scoreboard. It’s a scale.

“A false balance is an abomination to the Lord, but a just weight is His delight” (Proverbs 11:1).Justice, in God’s eyes, is about alignment, not punishment.

Let me tell you what this looked like in my life. There was a time when I truly believed God was on a mission—and that He wanted servants. Yes, He was a Father… but a Father who expected His kids to work hard to fulfill His purpose. So I poured myself into evangelism. I bought a building, read the Bible out loud to anyone who would listen, gave out evangelism DVDs, and worked 50–80 hours a week just to fund the mission. I thought: If I just show I’m dedicated, God will come through. I just have to keep serving. But as time went on, that belief matured—from servanthood to suffering. I began to think: God delights in watching me suffer for His name. He sees me tired, broke, lonely—and He loves my dedication. I told myself the reward would come in the next life.

The scale of my life was in perfect balance with what I believed: Serve more. Suffer more. Be faithful—even if it kills you. And honestly… martyrdom was the next step.But something in me stopped. I began to ask: Would a good Father really want that for His daughter?

That’s when I realized: I wasn’t being punished. I was simply living out a belief that had never been questioned. Justice had been working the whole time—not to harm me, but to reveal the imbalance between my belief… and God’s heart. If justice is about keeping the scales balanced with God’s design, then why do they tip so often?

It’s not just our actions—it’s the beliefs driving them. Let’s look at how imbalance starts, spreads, and can be corrected.

3️⃣ Deception: The Scales’ Tipper

The scales of justice tip when deception creeps in. Satan is called the “father of lies” (John 8:44) for a reason. His goal isn’t just to tempt you into sin—it’s to plant a false belief. Once you accept it, your life begins to reflect it.

Eve believed God was withholding good → so she reached.

Paul believed suffering proved love → so suffering shaped his story.

“As a man thinks in his heart, so is he” (Proverbs 23:7).

These lies don’t just tip the scales—they build pressure. Life feels heavy, chaotic, because it’s balancing with a belief that’s not God’s. We look for relief—numbing out, pushing harder—but unless the belief changes, the pressure only grows.

Even holy-sounding beliefs—like loyalty, suffering, or sacrifice—can create imbalance if they don’t reflect the heart of a good Father. The enemy gets us to believe lies about God—He’s harsh, distant, demanding—and those seeds take root, pulling us and our lives step-by-step away from His good design.

4️⃣ Generational Drift: When Pressure Passes Down

If deception tips the scales, generational drift shows how far they can fall. Beliefs don’t just shape our lives—they plant seeds that grow in our kids, and their kids, each generation taking it a little farther.

That pressure doesn’t stay with us—it passes down. Each generation feels it more, releasing it in ways that match the lie. A parent believes “God demands perfection”; their kid feels “I’m never enough.” Even if they homeschool or simplify, the chaos lingers—because the seed’s still growing.

“Desire, when it has conceived, gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death” (James 1:14–15).

Here’s what that looks like in real time:

Generation	Belief Introduced	Fruit It Produced
1910s–1920s	Girls deserve equal education	Girls trained through a masculine framework
1930s–1940s	Women can do men’s work (wartime)	Roles began to blur internally
1950s–1960s	Gender is interchangeable	Kids raised with non-gendered tasks
1970s–1980s	Two incomes are necessary	Homemaking seen as optional or burdensome
1990s–2000s	A woman’s value is her productivity	Women burned out trying to prove their worth
2010s–2020s	Feminism is the default	Even Christian women feel guilty for resting

Each belief felt balanced in its own generation—because life adjusted to match it. But was it aligned with God’s design?

It’s hard for parents to see this. If you taught your kids “hard work proves your worth,” and now they’re workaholics who feel empty, that’s not failure—it’s fruit. Your belief played out 300 yards farther in them. But here’s the catch: they can’t see the root unless you do.

When a generation doesn’t examine its beliefs, it passes them down—unintentionally. The next generation takes the same belief… just 300 yards farther. And the next? 600 yards farther. That’s not rebellion—it’s momentum.

Unquestioned beliefs mature, like seeds planted deep in the soil.

This is why younger generations often feel their lives are less than their parents’—not because they’ve failed, but because they’re reaping a different kind of fruit. That confusion often leads to idealizing their elders, thinking, “If I just lived like they did, I’d be okay.” Even then, the pressure stays—chaos, exhaustion—because the belief hasn’t changed.

5️⃣ Judging Righteously: From Fruit to Root

Pressure’s a gift—it’s the scales creaking, begging us to look deeper. Jesus said, “You’ll know them by their fruits” (Matthew 7:16). But fruit isn’t just behavior. It’s what life is producing—emotionally, relationally, spiritually.

Righteous judgment isn’t about fixing people. It’s about clarity. About looking at your own life and asking:

• Taste the Fruit – Is it peace or pressure? Look across your life: Faith, Family, Friends, Finances, Fitness. Is one choking out the others? I once poured 80% into work—no friends, no fitness, no family of my own. Then I swung to 80% faith—quit my job, lived like a monk, still overweight, still alone. Both felt “holy,” but the fruit was exhaustion, not peace.

• Find the Root – What belief is shaping this? Even if it came from past generations. For me, it was the same root both times: God values me as a servant. I just swapped bosses—working for a paycheck, then working for the Lord. The behavior changed, but the belief stayed, and so did the pressure. Sometimes we flip actions thinking we’re free, but the root’s still calling the shots.

• Align with Truth – Is this belief aligned with a God who is good, protective, and relational? My root said God wanted a worker—but Scripture says He’s a Father who rests (Genesis 2:2), protects (Psalm 91), and delights in His kids (Zephaniah 3:17), not their output. The Pharisees thought righteousness was looking right—harsh rules, heavy yokes—but their fruit was cruel, not kind. The whole Word—not just the New Testament’s call to serve, but the Old Testament’s call to be—shows righteousness isn’t meanness; it’s balance with a good God.

  
  

Take a mom who stays home to “follow God’s design.” If she believes “my worth is my output,” her days still feel tormenting—pressure builds, and she releases it by overworking, not resting. The scales stay balanced with her belief, not God’s truth.

Judgment invites her to ask: Does this chaos match a God who says, ‘Come to me, and I’ll give you rest’ (Matthew 11:28)?

✨ Conclusion: Judgment Rebalanced

Judgment isn’t a gavel. It’s a scale.

And your life? It’s the weight on that scale—revealing exactly what you believe, whether you know it or not.

It’s not about God serving my whims, nor me erasing myself for His. Judgment isn’t about me judging others by my right ideas, but about judging my ideas by the life they create—so I can share a balanced relationship with God, one of mutual enjoyment like a good marriage, leading to the abundant life He desires for us.

Deception tips it, generations carry the weight, but righteous judgment—rooted in God’s full truth—brings it back into balance.

Because that’s where righteous judgment begins.

And that’s where your healing starts.

I thank you for your time and I hope you all have a great day!

Jacqueline Marie