Judging Others

I was window shopping at the mall one day and saw this girl go into the "dollar store" to buy sale items. I thought to myself "How cheap!". That day, I was only window shopping, with less than 10 bucks on my debit.

I was on the bus to work a long time ago and this lady with unkempt hair, outdated clothes, big glasses, pimples all over her face- she was about my age I guess. I thought to myself "Wow, she's ugly." That day, I had just woken up, skipped a shower, pimples all over my face.

I was browsing facebook one day and saw a picture of an old friend. He used to have a lean body but now he had become much.. MUCH bigger. I thought to myself "My he got fat!". That day, another pound must have added to my weight care of that delicious caramel pecan cake- I had about 2 slices.

I could go on and on- but hopefully you get my point. Every single day of our existence, we judge others. We judge based on looks, clothes, money, etc. Yet we fail to see our own imperfections. But we not only judge based on superficial aspects- we also judge other's personality, way of life, beliefs.. and yes, religion.

How is it that we judge by a standard that we ourselves can't even meet? We think we've met them, but surprise surprise, I'm telling you- we're not THAT great.

God says 1"Do not judge, or you too will be judged. 2For 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).

Imagine if God used my personal "points of assessment"- and during my day of judgment God says "I deny you admittance here because you're too cheap, you have pimples on your face, you tried working out and that was good- yet you gained back the pounds and got fat. Sorry". Every judgment I have ever made on anyone would truly backfire at this point.

God also continues to say.. "3Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? 4How 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? 5You 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." (Matthew 7:3-5)

A lot of times- tonnes of reflection and time spent with God helps us to get rid of the "plank" in our eyes. For through and with God, we are purified, cleansed and renewed. Even then we're still not perfect. Our God alone is the ONE who is perfect, in every way. Realizing this, we must acknowledge our reliance upon God to reveal our inner beauty. God made all His children to be who they are- Therefore, we don't have the right to even come close to criticizing His masterpiece.

"It is the Lord who judges me. 5Therefore judge nothing before the appointed time; wait till the Lord comes. He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of men's hearts." 1 Corinthians:4-5