Judge

Matthew 7:1-3 Judge not, that ye be not judged.

2 For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.

3 And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?

I don’t think everyone in the “cloud seats” (Hebrews 12:1) are on the other side of the veil. Some are still on this side watching our every action, hearing our every word, the recipient of our attitudes.

As I drove home from the movie, I Can Only Imagine on Sunday afternoon after oversleeping and missing church, my thoughts were on my “cloud people” (Hebrews 12:1) and all they are seeing and enjoying in the Presence of the Savior. Suddenly, all my warm, fuzzy feeling thoughts were rudely interrupted by the “still small voice” asking me to look at others–those I have found “repulsive” also in the “cloud seats.” (I Kings 19:12) The people I will share eternity with doing all the things I was just “imagining.” People I have judged without really knowing their story. People who turned me off just for the way I saw them in one minute of time over the course of years. Their faces suddenly vivid once more: The man in the elevator with body odor so bad I wanted to vomit; the drunk with his bottle sprawled on the park bench; the overweight kid pigging out on junk food like it was the Last Supper; the girl with more tats and piercings than I could count maring up her God-given beauty; and trust me I could go on and on–I am old! Split second decisions/choices to see the exterior only. Condescension, privilege, and entitlement etched across my “holier than thou” face.

I pulled over for an accident, I could tell had just occurred, to be sure no one was injured, relieved for the break of looking in the mirror and seeing myself as God sees me. But as soon as I was back on the road, the lesson, I discovered, was far from over. No Good Samaritan deed would get me off the hook.

The reminder we are ALL created in the image of holy God but caught in the grip of a fallen world and circumstances not necessarily a choice but one we are all desperately trying to escape or at least survive in, just like I had just seen in the movie: An angry, hurting father without a purpose because his dream did not come true and life is HARD! Bitterness spewing onto everyone in his path, especially his young son.

The Miracle Worker Play

The voice of His Spirit said, “Remember your Mom’s words?” Yes, Lord, how can I forget!!! I only heard them a million and one times: “You dislike in others what you hate in yourself.” The sin deep in me on outward display in another, like an actor on a stage.

Body odor My own vanity, privilege, and entitlement

Drunk with a bottle Looking for love in all the wrong places

Fat kid endulging Hunger for “something more, something other”, Ingratitude

Girl with the tats Words I say to myself about being stupid, ugly, less than—putting down God’s masterpiece in myself.

How is this for a Sunday afternoon drive dose of conviction?

So, do you maybe have one “type” of person you are constantly judging? Judging in the Greek is krino which means “properly, to separate (distinguish), i.e. judge; come to a choice (decision, judgment) by making a judgment – either positive (a verdict in favor of) or negative (which rejects or condemns).” (From Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance #2919) Maybe the person we judge is a person of a different race, creed, color, religion, or culture. Is God, the Father of us all, asking us to see them as He sees them? “Red and yellow, black and white, they are precious in His sight!” Each of us all part of one family?

Maybe you judge size (obese or rail thin). Is God asking you to reevaluate your own fatness/leanness as He sees our hoarding, lack of generosity, lack of gratitude for HIs abundant provisions to us? Or is the opposite true, and we are guilty of failing to ask for what we need because we are so self-sufficient.

Do we judge the homeless as lazy, having no drive or just being “a bit crazy”? Is the Lord looking deeply into our eyes and asking us to look to see if our hearts are closed to others and to Him? Are we really the homeless wanderers?

Are we judging the addicted? Father God, are you asking us to let You show us OUR addictions (we all got them!)?

Do we judge the rich? Is our problem jealousy, greed, envy?

Do we judge the poor? Are we lazy, or mean spirited to others?

Do we judge the sick? Are we always looking for attention, to be noticed, to be in control?

Do we judge the disabled? Are we really hiding our own inabilities and refusing to seek God’s help?

Mirrors

The list of how we judge is endless. No one is without some of this in their life. It is universal. Our soul condition is on display in the lives of others so we can see……………….they are our mirror.

Jesus was a friend to the tax collector, the leper, the Samaritan, the Pharisee, the prostitute, the lame, the blind, the deaf, the rich, the poor. He left no one out and He judged NOT ONE SOUL! To Him, there are no strangers, no outcasts!

Can I double dog dare you to monitor your thoughts and words about others and then ask the HONEST, HARD question: What is displeasing in me? Displeasing to me and to the Father, that I see like a reflection in a mirror when I encounter others? Then, confess it! Slay this dragon of judgmentalism. (Matthew 5:16) He will judge us as we have judged others. (Matthew 7:1-2, Luke 6:37) Now this is a wake up call!.

Orphans of God, by Avalon (one of my favorites)

Treading in scalding hot water,