Judgement

Just the other day, I had pizza with my in-laws for my Father-in-law's birthday. I sat next to my brother-in-law and his girlfriend. His girlfriend expressed her love for her new church, and it was so refreshing to watch her talk and brag about God. The one thing in particular that stuck out to me about our conversation was about judgement. She said "the message this past weekend was about judgement and it moved me to tears. I realized just how much I judged people and it broke me".

Her humbled brokenness moved me. Because to be honest, she reminded me that I need to start checking myself more.

One of my favorite verses that I refer to when I catch myself judging is Matthew 7:3-5:

 3 “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? 4 How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye?5 You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye. (NIV)

What's sad is that I'm not the only Christian that judges others. If we're being real - judgement seems to be associated with a lot of Christians these days doesn't it? We're supposed to be spreading truth and the "L" word:

LOVE.

But instead...

We're quick to condemn and call our sisters "sluts"
We're quick to look down upon fellow husbands or wives who have cheated on their spouse
We judge those who get pregnant out of wed lock
We laugh and point fingers at the big girl at the pool, or the lady wearing too much makeup
We try to avoid the "weird" person who talks too much, makes odd jokes, or is a little bit awkward
We look down on the friend who doesn't make as much as us
We mock the disabled when they just want to fit in and feel normal
We look at someone's past as a criminal and label them with the identity that got them locked up
We judge the mom who can't keep her kids quiet in a restaurant
We poke fun at the girl with the "annoying" voice, when all she wants is to just be heard
We cast out the atheist or the agnostic as a "devil worshiper" because they don't think like us

or even worse these days:

We ignore what the gay person has to say..
We ignore what the racially oppressed have to say..
We ignore what the opposite, political party has to say..

...we think we're all that and a bag of chips...when the truth is...WE. ARE. NOTHING. IF. WE. DON'T. LOVE. EACH. OTHER. FIRST.

We weren't called to judge opinions, lifestyles or tell others how to live their lives. We need to focus on all the things that we need to fix in our own lives, because we all have struggles. All God has ever called us to do was to love.

You must know that I'm talking to myself today. Because I know I'm guilty of some of these things....I have baggage, problems, and sins that I need to work on too.

But collectively, I think EVERYONE (Christian or not Christian) could:

Think about our own baggage before we judge someone else's
Be open minded to what other's have to say
Change our perspectives
Be accepting
Be forgiving
Be gracious
...

Be humble
If those are things you want others to do for you....then let's practice doing those things for each other.

Above all...please love each other. God knows this world needs it.

Truth and wisdom will follow in love's footsteps ❤️

***

"If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing"

                                                                        1 Corinthians 13:2 (NIV)