"Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven." Luke 6:37
.....well. How much more to the point does it get than that? I've recently acknowledged the fact that I am a judgmental person. Shocker, I know. I tend to see a person and size them up in the first few seconds of meeting them and instantly develop and opinion about the type of person they are or have been. Many times, this has kept me from developing relationships with those people. Occasionally, I have been in a situation where I had repeated exposure to someone that was victim of my assumptions, either from work or some sort of extra-cirricular activity, only to discover that these people are absolutely nothing like the package I've conjured up in my head. I judge people on the clothes they wear, the color they have their hair dyed (or how badly their roots need to be touched up!), the way they speak, their posture, the way they interact with the opposite sex, the way they interact with the same sex, their sense of humor or lack there-of, stories I might have heard from others before meeting them,....have I embarassed myself enough? The list could go on and on.
We live in a world that is consumed with status and image, they are defined by each other and more often than not, if you have one, you have the other. We are obsessed with celebrities and their lifestyles that seem to be full of glamour and prestige, as they are presented to us through the media and tabloids. So...back to my point, I have admitted to myself that I often times don't give people a chance to be who they really are before I put them in a category or box that I've created for them. And I go back to elementary and middle school and high school where I struggled to fit in, to be one of the popular kids, to be one of the pretty girls...titles that I would never have given myself. I can remember being frustrated with the lack of interest in who I was as a person and the kind of friendship I could offer. By the time I reached my senior year of high school, I had created a method of getting into one of those categories that were "accepted". I lost respect for who I was created to be by God, and instead, became who I thought I was supposed to be for man. It was a pattern that I followed for many years, until I looked up one day and realized that I didn't recognize myself anymore. I had created a mangled, messy version of God's creation. All because I was consumed with what others thought of me...and wanting to fit whatever image seemed to be accepted by them. I morphed into many different molds, depending on the crowd I was around. It took alot of prayer and grace to pull me out of that pit I had created for myself....and so now I am asking myself, am I digging pits for others to fall into? Am I setting someone else up to fall into this pattern of trying to impress and live up to other people's standards?? Who am I to question the quality of a creation made by the Master?
When I was at the lowest of my lows, I met the man that would become my husband a few years later. I met him in the character I had created and played for the last few years before that...and he saw through it. He challenged me to seek who I really was and who God had created me to be. He didn't judge me for the mistakes and sins I had all over my character. He showed me it was okay to turn around and seek out that girl that God had created that I had left behind me so many years before. And in the process I fell in love. I fell in love with God. I fell in love with Richard. And I fell in love with life again. And how can I, as a Christian woman, not show Christ's love and acceptance to others? 1 John 4:7 says "Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God." If God is so gracious to have accepted me in the condition I came to Him, who am I to scoff the condition others are in? My prayer for this season in life is that God will replace those judgmental opinions in my heart and mind with love, compassion and acceptance. I pray to be a Godly mother, wife, sister, daughter and friend...and I pray to be a Godly stranger. To see people as creations of God, not molded transformations influenced by man.
So I close with this scripture for thought, "Return to him you have so greatly revolted against, O Israelites. For in that day every one of you will reject the idols of silver and gold your sinful hands have made." Isaiah 31:6-7.
