Today’s Post Written By: Rae Lynn DeAngelis
Growing up, my brother, sister, and I were amused by some of my mom’s “blonder than usual” moments. This particular story makes me laugh to this day.
One sunny morning my mom was on her way to a nearby university to take a class that was going towards the degree she was earning. The trip was a good forty-five minute drive, so she had plenty of time to ponder the upcoming events of her day.
Finally arriving at the college campus, she pulled up to the security shack and handed the attendant her parking pass. As she engaged in a short conversation with the security attendant, she noticed he was staring at her with a strange look on his face. Having no idea why he was looking at her so funny, she decided not to over analyze the situation and drove away to find a parking space.
She turned off the car, gathered her books, and slipped off her sunglasses. At that moment she began to chuckle, realizing why the security guard had been looking at her so strangely. One of the lenses in her sunglasses was missing! Amusingly, my mom drove the entire way to school and never realized her sunglass lens was gone.
Have you ever noticed that we often struggle to see our own imperfections and yet have no problem finding fault with others.
“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?” (Matthew 7:3)
Jesus tells us that we are not to judge others, but leave the judging to Him.
“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.” (Matthew 7:1-2)
This Scripture make me cringe. Do I really want others to judge me with the same measure that I judge them?
Not really.
Because we are not righteous, we are not fit to judge. Only Jesus, the Righteous Judge, can judge fairly.
Even though we know this to be true, we are all guilty of judging others – myself included. So why do we do it?
We judge others because we subconsciously want to elevate ourselves above everyone else. If we put others down, we can feel better about ourselves, but the truth is we are all sinners. We have all fallen short of God’s standard, so the ground at the foot of the cross is level.
“Therefore let us stop passing judgment on one another.” (Romans 14:13a)
So let’s begin today to make a conscious effort to look inward, closely monitoring ourselves to see where we have fallen short and need to change. Then we won’t have time to worry about what everyone else is or is not doing.
Leave the judging to Jesus.
“For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive what is due him for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.” (2 Corinthians 5:10)