A Censorious Spirit

My grandfather loved words. He used to have a Word of The Day calendar — and would challenge us as kids with difficult words and their definitions.

One difficult word I wished I had learned is censoriousness. Censoriousness is “a disposition to think evil of others or to judge ill of them with respect to their state, qualities, or action.” A censorious spirit overlooks the good and overemphasizes the bad qualities in a person. It puts a bad construction on other people’s words or actions. It judges uncharitably. It assumes the worst. 

Eighteenth century pastor Jonathan Edwards says,

“People are very reticent to judge ill of themselves or even to judge ill of those they love, but active in judging those whom they disapprove of or are envious of. Where hatred and ill spirit most prevail, there a censorious spirit does most prevail.”

And in this polarized world, censoriousness is everywhere. In our culture. In our homes. In our churches. In our hearts. 

But a Christian spirit is the opposite of a censorious one. It is grounded in the grace of God most brilliantly displayed in love — love which, as Paul writes, “is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast, it is not arrogant or rude.” In fact, “love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things” (1 Cor 13:4-7).

The Christian spirit of love drives us to be push-in-ers, not to be pushovers. It cares enough to press for evidence rather than assuming the worst at first appearance. When evil is revealed in the lives of others, love calls it out with humility and self-awareness, mindful that the ground is level at the foot of the cross (Matt 7:1-5).

And most of all love compels us, rather than looking in the hearts of others where we cannot see evil motive, to look instead where — God helping us — we can see it. In our own. 

So let us examine ourselves, even now.

Prayer of Confession

Lord, we lament with Jeremiah that the heart is deceitful above all things — who can understand it? (17:9) The answer, of course, is “no one” — no one that is, but you. We confess that the only way we can know our own hearts is by taking hold of your hand and asking you to guide us. You understand us — have mercy on us and help us understand ourselves. Forgive us of our censorious spirit. Shine the light of your kind face on the hidden sins of our heart; bring them to light that we might confess and find relief in your atoning grace. Holy Spirit examine us now as we lay ourselves before you in this moment of silent confession…