Judging others, it seems pretty straight forward- don’t do it. We all know it’s wrong; we all know it hurts the feelings of the people we talk about. But why do we choose to do it anyway? Why do we look at the girl walking by and automatically hate her? Why do we see a man on the side of the street and think- all he wants is my money? Is there anything more pleasant than discussing someone’s fault? We tend to make unnecessary judgments before we even begin to know the real truth.
I think it’s time to bring back the saying- ‘What would Jesus do?’ If we truly want to please God, we must obey His standards. In John 8:15-16 it states, “You judge by human standards; I pass judgment on no one. But if I do judge, my decisions are true, because I am not alone. I stand with the Father also.” We need to make the commitment to stop judging- whether it is people we know (like our closest friends), or people we don’t know (like the group of kids talking during a movie).
Remember the statement we learned in elementary school? If you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything at all. Scripture wise we read, “Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.” in Matthew 7:1-2. If you are judging others, except for it to happen to you.
Overall, strive on not jumping to conclusions, we do not know the history of others. It is a must that we do not envy their happiness, we do not laugh when they are hurt, and we do not judge others in a negative way under any circumstances.
-Autumn
Friday, October 1, 2010
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It is super epic that judgement is the topic of this week's devo. Judging people is a sin I have personally been struggling with lately and it is something we have been talking about in my small group. Judgement is one of the hardest things to stop because there are people everywhere we go, and because everyone has their own faults it is easy to pick their problems apart. One of my favorite scriptures is in Matthew 7:3-5
ReplyDelete"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? 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? 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)
Whenever I think of these verses I imagine all of my faults and how, put together, they form a 2x4 for each of my eyes.
Lately from all my friends and even myself has been gossip or people judging people for how they look or what they are wearing and I hate it. I'm trying very hard to catch myself when I start to do that now and if my friends say something I will tell them that's not right and to stop. I've been noticing a lot of people stopping people when they are being sarcastic and that is really good! Everyone should keep that up. If your friend is gossiping, talking bad about someone, or straight up judging tell them to stop. What would Jesus do, always keep that in mind.
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