Judging Others

A friend of mine sent me the link to this commercial from Ameriquest...absolutely hilarious.

I used to live in this world in which I didn't want to share anything about me to anyone, especially if it involved my weaknesses. That changed radically for me when I became part of a weekly men's group which met to study the Bible and "do life together."

I was pretty uptight about the first meeting. However, I remember driving home and feeling like the weight of the world had been lifted off my shoulders because I was able to share some burdens that I had been carrying alone.

Anyway, the point of all this is that during the first year and a half in this group, every one of us (6-7 in the group) had experienced a major life issue in which the support of the group helped immensely. It was during this time that I had the realization that we are all messed up people, every one of us. That has helped me on two fronts: 1. to be more open with others and 2. to hopefully not be as quick to judge others.

While the above video is pretty funny, it is also a good reminder to us to not judge others too quickly, or preferably not at all!

"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 7:2

Judgement

From a recent email I received:

One day God was looking down at Earth and saw all of the rascally behavior that was going on. So he called one of His angels and sent the angel to Earth for a time.

When he returned, he told God, "Yes, it is bad on Earth; 95% are misbehaving and only 5% are not.

God thought for a moment and said, "Maybe I had better send down a second angel to get another opinion." So God called another angel and sent him to Earth for a time.

When the angel returned he went to God and said, "Yes, it's true. The Earth is in decline; 95% are misbehaving, but 5% are being good."

God was not pleased. So He decided to e-mail the 5% that were good, because he wanted to encourage them, and give them a little something to help them keep going.

Do you know what the e-mail said?

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Okay, I was just wondering, because I didn't get one either.

While I don't agree with the theology of this, I do think it's funny...and a bit true. We all are messed up. Isn't it refreshing to know that you are not the only one who has issues? We all do. We should remember this when dealing with others.

"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

Judgment

I heard Stephen Covey talk about an incident when he was on a subway on a Sunday morning. It was very peaceful until a man and his three children got on his car. They began hitting people's newspapers, making lots of noise and disturbing everyone...everyone except their father.

Stephen said he became very angry at this man for not doing anything. He said he was furious.

Finally, he had enough and he asked the man to control his children.

The man sheepishly said, "Oh, you're right. I'm sorry. I guess they aren't sure how to react to the news they just heard. We are coming from the hospital and they just learned their mother has died."

Stephen said his entire demeanor changed in an instant. Instead of being angry, he immediately was filled with compassion for this man and his children.

I often think about this when someone treats me poorly or cuts me off in traffic. I have no idea what is going on in their lives so I need to cut them some slack.

Zig Ziglar wrote something about a similar topic - go here to read more.