"So speak and so act as those who are to be judged under the law of liberty. For judgment is without mercy to one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment."

We've been on a journey this week. We discovered that we ARE called to discern, not to avoid judgment altogether. We learned that unconfessed sin blinds us to grace. We saw how ignorance keeps us from understanding the full story. Today we're tackling the final beam that keeps us from seeing clearly: indifference.

Here's what I need you to know. Indifference is the quiet killer of compassion. It's the thing that makes us look at someone's broken life and think, "Well, they made their choices. They got what they deserved."

Think about the demon-possessed man in Mark 5. He lived in the tombs. He cut himself with stones. He cried out day and night. No one could bind him. No one could control him. If anyone ever looked like they deserved their situation, it was this man. You could easily judge him and say, "He must have made some terrible choices to end up like that." And you'd probably be right. Nobody just wakes up one day possessed by a legion of demons living in a graveyard.

But here's what's incredible. Jesus crossed the Sea of Galilee, fought through a massive windstorm that terrified His disciples, just to reach this one man. Why? Because Jesus saw past the consequences to the compassion that man needed. Jesus refused to let indifference blind Him to the possibility of restoration.

Can I just say something we need to hear? Maybe for some of us, it's easy to pass judgment on people's stations in life. We think about how we made hard choices. How we worked when it was difficult. How we said no to temptation. How we capitalized on second chances. And then we look at people who are poor, broken, hopeless, or struggling and we wonder, "Why don't they just make better choices?"

That's the beam of indifference talking. That's us looking at people through the lens of their consequences instead of through the lens of compassion.
Think about it just like a farmer looking at a field that's been overrun with weeds. You could judge that field and say, "Someone didn't take care of this land. They deserve to have it ruined." Or you could have compassion and say, "This field needs someone willing to do the hard work of restoration." The field didn't ask for the weeds. Sometimes wind blows seeds in. Sometimes neglect happens because of circumstances beyond control. But the field still has potential if someone cares enough to restore it.

Jesus looked at that demon-possessed man the same way. He didn't see someone getting what he deserved. He saw someone who needed freedom from consequences, someone worth crossing a sea to save.

James 2:13 puts it perfectly: "For judgment is without mercy to one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment." When we let indifference cloud our vision, we become unable to free people from their consequences the way Jesus did. We judge them without mercy because we've shown no mercy.

Right now, I want you to think about someone in your life who's living with consequences of their choices. Maybe they're struggling financially. Maybe they're dealing with addiction. Maybe their relationships are a mess. What if instead of indifference, you looked at them with the same compassion Jesus had when He crossed that sea?

Here's the beautiful truth. All of us have sinned. All of us have fallen short. All of us will be judged. So in your judgment of others, remember that mercy triumphs over judgment. Thank God it did for you. Now extend that same mercy to them.

Tomorrow we'll discover the final piece of discernment: knowing when your words will help and when they'll hurt.

Identify one person whose life situation you've been indifferent toward. This week, take one concrete action that demonstrates compassion: a phone call, a meal, an offer to help, or simply listening to their story without judgment.