Ever Find Yourself Judging Others?

“When you stand before the Lord to give an account of your life,” my beloved Pastor Freddie told me a few years before he crawled into bed one night, shut his eyes to sleep and woke up with the Lord, “you won’t be asked to give an account of anyone else. You will have to give an account of your own life.” God poured so much wisdom through my dear pastor and father in Christ, and this nugget of wisdom has stuck with me ever since. For with a long-time history of judging others, right in line with how much I was judged by a loved one while I was growing up, I was sinfully, dangerously, and pridefully prone to pointing the finger at others for their shortcomings rather than looking in the mirror and dealing with my own sins and striving to yield my life to the Lord and to His ways.

I believe if we are all fully honest with ourselves, we will find that none of us is totally immune from judging others. From walking down the street and thinking critical thoughts about people who are obese, to bashing loved ones with addictions either to their faces or behind their backs while justifying our judgment by claiming we are just trying to help them, to giving up on friendships because we feel like we shouldn’t have to deal with other people’s shortfalls, to giving our spouses a hard time because we think they should be further along with making changes in their lives, to reading the newspaper and watching the evening news and scoffing at people’s foolish acts, to anything and everything, we all find ourselves at one time or another judging others – whether we admit it or not.

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How wise my beloved pastor was to point me to the judgment seat of Christ to help me to understand that none of us will be standing before the Lord giving an account of what anyone else did on this earth. We will be responsible for how we lived our own lives, and just as we will need faith in Christ and the love, mercy, and forgiveness of the Lord for every way in which we fell short, we need to extend love, mercy, and forgiveness to others here on this earth rather than judging them. And, when we find as I still do sometimes, though much less often, that we have judged someone, we need to seek the Lord’s forgiveness and to return to what He has called us to do – to love in the name of our Lord!

Why not take an inventory and see if you have been judging others. If you find that you have, seek God’s forgiveness and walk forward in His love. Then, if you find yourself falling once more in judging others, repent again and take your next step forward – in love. Step by step, learn to walk in God’s love. Free from judging others, and strong in the love of the Lord. 

Rom 14:10  But why dost thou judge thy brother? or why dost thou set at nought thy brother? for we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. 
Rom 14:11  For it is written, As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God. 
Rom 14:12  So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God. 
Rom 14:13  Let us not therefore judge one another any more: but judge this rather, that no man put a stumblingblock or an occasion to fall in his brother’s way. 

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