Judgement
I’ve seen others be unfairly judged by people that knew nothing about them. I witnessed a lot of judgement aimed at my mother after she was diagnosed with Early Onset Parkinson’s Disease. She would move a lot, swaying, squirming, etc. She also started to tremble constantly. She started having trouble driving. I remember Mom being pulled over and accused of drinking and driving multiple times. Several of those occasions were when she was taking me to school. She was given Sobriety Tests a couple of times to prove she had not been drinking. My mother very seldomly even drank a glass of wine. She NEVER did any drugs or smoked cigarettes. She was a kind, conservative, Christian woman just trying to care for her family the best she could. I would get so angry when I would hear people making comments about her. A lot of people would assume she was a drug addict or alcoholic going through withdrawals. I would hear their comments as we walked by, most people had the same opinion, “it’s so sad how addiction can affect someone.” While there is a lot of truth to that statement it wasn’t the case with my mom. People would even ask me what she was coming off of when we were out. I would, of course, explain that it was Parkinson’s Disease, not drugs. As I got older, I even had a couple of peers that thought the same things about Mom. I was told once how cool someone thought my mom must have been back when “she did drugs and partied.” It wasn’t fair for any of these people to jump to those conclusions.
That is the problem with human judgement, it isn’t fair or just. 1 Samuel 16:7 tells us “People judge by outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” (NLV). The Bible is full of verses on judging, most of which tell us not to judge, leave that up to God. Matthew 7:1 tells us not to judge others or we will be judged using the same measure we used to judge. Romans 2:1-3 tells us not to judge others because we are doing the same things. Paul asks, “why do you think you can avoid God’s judgement when you do the same things?” We are all sinners, to God sin is sin, none is any greater than another. James 4:11-12 says if we are judging each other, we are judging God’s law. Our job is to obey the law, not judge it. God alone gave the law; God alone can judge it.
Not judging people is obviously a difficult task. Why else would it need to be repeated so many times? I am honestly not sure anyone can completely keep from passing judgements. We even judge ourselves, some of us even more harshly than we judge others. Shame is a way we judge ourselves; we know from Genesis that shame is one of the first feelings Adam and Eve felt after eating the fruit from the tree of knowledge. We were created by God to work, to tend the land of his creation, to care for and govern the creatures he put on the earth. Maybe judgement was always a part of that work. We were made in God’s image and God is the ultimate judge. I think we were created to pass fair judgement, in the same way God does. I believe sin has corrupted that natural judgement we were created to have. If sin had not corrupted our world, I believe we would be able to make fair judgements. Because of the corruption sin caused our judgement is also corrupted.
God tells Samuel that the Lord doesn’t see things the way you see them. people judge by outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart. As Christians living in the world today it is important that we remember this. You may see a homeless person, a person covered in tattoos, a stressed mom or dad that’s lost their cool, etc. You don’t know their story. God is pursuing them the same way he pursues you. God loves them just as much as he loves you. God is using their circumstances to bring them closer to Him, or maybe to bring someone else closer to Him through them. Only God knows what is really and truly in their heart. Only God knows what their future holds or what they are being used for. All we know is that God uses everything and everyone for the good of His Kingdom. That should be enough for us to strive to not judge. To trust in God to serve the judgement. Enough of a reason that we can focus on doing what God has called us to do, to be different than the world, to show people His love, and let him use us to complete His good works. We are told to hate the sin not the person, it’s a fine line to follow, but it’s so important for us to remember. Sin is the problem, not the people. God created people, he loves us, and calls us as Christians to love people. From a parental perspective, we would be/are so hurt when someone treats our children unfairly. We are God’s children, ALL of us, he created us and knows us more deeply than anyone ever will. I hear moms say that they made their kid, when actually you carried your child, God MADE your child. He made all of us. We are all His children.
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As a parent, how would you feel if someone was to judge your child without even knowing them? How would you feel watching your child struggle with the weight we feel from judgements being cast on us? To know there’s not really anything you can do other than try to convince them not to listen to the judgements people put on them? I know some of you have probably dealt with this scenario with your children before, I know I have. School children can really tear a kid down. Once a judgement has been spoken over someone it is so hard to get the thoughts those words cause out of your brain. They seem to just eat away at you. It doesn’t matter how many other people tell you it wasn’t fair or that what one person said isn’t the truth, it’s still there floating into your thoughts, making you wonder if maybe it is true, or that’s what others actually think of you. Watching your child be hurt in that way may be one of the hardest parts of parenting. I can only imagine how it must make God feel when one of His children does it to another of His children. It must be truly heartbreaking for Him watching His children, His creations judging and hurting each other. He must be so disappointed and saddened by the one doing the judging, then the pain from watching another of His children suffer the torment that judgement caused.
Unfortunately, we Christians are some of the worst when it comes to passing judgements on people. There are people that will not attend church because the Christians they’ve encountered were judgemental and they fear being judged again. We say we are loving people and doing God’s work, but if the world is seeing us as judgemental hypocrites are we really doing what we are called to do? We are supposed to set an example, to show people God in our actions. If our actions are keeping people from attending church and growing their relationship with God, aren’t we doing the opposite of what God called us to do? I hope you will join me in making a real effort to stop judging others you encounter. To show you’re a Christian not by judging or pointing out others’ sins, but by showing the love God has poured out on you to everyone you meet regardless of how they look, what their past might have been, or any other reason you may have thought to judge them.
When I started writing this, I intended to focus on dealing with unfair judgement being placed on you. I guess God decided we should focus on not casting judgement before digging into dealing with the judgements we face. I’m sure this is reaching whoever God intended and I hope that it has helped you. If you enjoy my ramblings, please leave a comment, and follow me on Blogger, my Facebook page “The Christian Zebra”
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