Devotional 6-12-09

JUDGING
"The Lord doesn’t look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart” Samuel 16:7 NIV

The first (of many) lessons I learned when I started working retail was not to judge someone by their appearance. There are many stories around town about lost opportunities because someone didn’t think the customer looked prosperous enough to warrant their time. They judged them by their outward appearance. We all make that mistake. We not only judge how other people look, we judge how they raise their children, how they treat their spouse, how they spend their money, their time, how they live their life. You name it, we judge it. It makes us feel better about ourselves-superior. We know how everyone else should live their life. When we are busy judging others we don’t have time to look very closely at our own life.

But, we don’t have all of the information or the wisdom we would need to judge fairly. We can only judge from the outside. There is so much that affects the way we behave--family background, physical problems, mental problems, chemical imbalances, etc. Medical science has made great strides, but there is still so much that is not known or understood--even by professionals--much less by us looking from the outside in. But God understands. He judges from the inside. He knows us to the depth of our being and judges us from that perspective.

We are not called to judge. In fact, we are warned against criticizing others. In Matthew 7:1-2 NIV, Jesus says, “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 you.” Now that's scary! Maybe the next time we catch ourselves judging others we need to stop and take a minute to think of reasons why someone is behaving the way they are. Is there something we can do to help? That is what we are called to do, not to judge, but to love.

Margaret Williams