As students enter, ask them to think about all the places that judgment comes up in their lives. When they think of an idea, allow them to write it on the whiteboard. If your class is meeting online, you can ask them to share as you type the items into a screen-shared document.
The list could include things like the judge in a courtroom, judging someone’s appearance, sports officials, grades in school, etc. You can prompt them by asking about situations where they have the opportunity to judge someone/something or about situations where they are/or feel judged by others.
Judgment comes up in our world often and in lots of different ways! Especially in this last year, our nation has become increasingly divided over things like politics and foreign conflicts. Take for example the war between Israel and Palestine. A recent study by Pew Research Center showed Americans were very divided both about who they felt was responsible for the conflict and about how it should be resolved.
You may have even experienced or heard about disagreements amongst people who felt very differently about this issue. These disagreements can cause us to judge other people for their different opinions. It can be easy to judge others with whom we disagree, especially when we don’t have all the information about their situations or understand where they’re coming from.
- What are some examples of judgment you’ve seen in the world recently? (Accept all reasonable answers.)
- Have you judged others this year? What made it so easy to judge? Respectfully share an example. (Accept all reasonable and respectful answers.)
Our world is full of different kinds of judgment. Some of it is righteous judgment, like a criminal being sentenced for his crime, and some of it is wrong judgment, like a child being left out because his friends judge his clothes. The most important judge, though, is God. He can always be relied on to be a righteous judge. Let’s dig into the Bible to see what it has to say about God’s judgment.
Story source: Americans’ Views of the Israel-Hamas War