| Strategy : | Compare myself |
| Goal : | monitor my neighbour |
| Description : | finger-pointer |
| Personality : | stuck-up |
| Self-analysis : | I may be bad, but I’m better than…… |
| Theology : | Distract God |
| Bumper Sticker : | “God’s Watching you and so am I.” |
| Complaint : | I can’t see enough |
| Favourite Animal : | Watchdog |
| Spends Time Looking : | over the fence at the neighbour |
| View of Grace : | Yes. You! |
| View of Sin : | He is guilty |
| Work Ethic : | What you do is my business |
| Favourite Phrase : | Straighten up! |
| Boundaries : | If he feels good, note it |
| Condition : | Bitter |
| Paul's Pronouncement : | You have no authority for the judgments you make. |
| Key Verse: | “If you think you can judge others, you are wrong. When you judge them, you are really yourself guilty because you do the same things they do” (2:1) |
Can you relate to the Fault-Finding Son?
The approach of the second brother was simple:
“Why deal with my mistakes when I can focus on the mistakes of others?”
He is a judgmentalist. I may be bad, but as long as I can find someone worse, I am safe. He fuels his goodness with the failures of others. He is the self-appointed teacher’s pet in school. He tattles on the sloppy work of tohers, oblivious to the F on his own paper. He’s the neighborhood watchdog, passing out citations for people to clean up their act, never noticing the garbage on his own front lawn.
“Come on God, let me show you the evil deeds of my neighbour,” the moralist invites. But God won’t follow him into the valley. “ If you think you can judge others, you are wrong. When you judge them, you are really judging yourself guilty, because you do the same things they do” ( Rom 2:1)
It’s a shallow ploy, and God won’t fall for it.