Why is it we can judge others, but it’s so hard to judge ourselves?
Do you know the easiest form of judgement? The answer is really simple. I hope you are ready for the answer: It’s judging others. Whether we are five years old, nine, thirty-five or ninety-five we all can find the flaws of others and somehow not see our own flaws. Even if our own flaws/sins are what would be considered much worse by any standards.
Have you ever had that feeling of realization after you have said something really stupid? The feeling when you realize you have stuck your own foot so far in your mouth it can no longer see daylight? I know I sure have. Many, many times. That’s probably the feeling we should have when we have judged someone else. When we have judged someone else and we are committing sins that are so big they cast a dark shadow on their little sin. Why in the first place are we even judging their sins? Are we God? Are we a Saint? Are we Holy by any means? I can answer that for us all. No.
It’s all the same, no matter how young or innocent, this is part of being a human. This is where the five year old and the nine year old comes into the story. Our girls love to judge each other. They of course, usually, have no idea that is what they are even doing. If I am trying to correct one of their behaviors for good reason: safety or to not appear they have been raised in a barn; the other sister is the first to call them out on it. Sitting in a “feet on the floor” and “tail on the chair” position has been a recent struggle for our oldest daughter. M has developed this horrible habit where she cannot sit the correct way for any meal or even at school during her work. We have been trying to correct this for a while, especially when we are eating dinner as a family. I’m sure you will never guess who the strictest member of our family is on M? It’s little T! She worries about M’s posture and if her feet are on the floor much more than I could ever notice. It’s as if she watches her the whole meal until she slips up! She is so hard on her. The worst part is, T doesn’t always sit the correct way herself. This can happen to a thirty-five year old and ninety-five year old and any age in between. We just usually tend to judge in a different way.
In the first part of this series on judgment I wrote about judgements that come from more of a physical/lifestyle stand point. We are now talking about Christians judging other Christians. We are now talking about adults judging other adults for their character/spiritual flaws and sins.
Scriptures and specifically scriptures from Jesus himself guides us the best when it comes to matters of judging.
“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 7:1-6 NIV
“Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How 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? You 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.
Jesus was so wise, wasn’t He? We are so excited to see how wrong other people are living and how bad other people act. We forget that the only person that we are truly responsible for is – ourselves. I believe this is one of those subjects that we will work on until the day we go home to be with this wise man. The closer we grow in faith and in our knowledge of the Lord the more difficult it is to not find faults in others.
When little T is so quick to tattle-tale on her older sister, I am always quick to remind her that she needs to worry about herself, her own actions and not her sister’s. Do I practice what I preach to her? Sometimes, but I am no where close to perfect with this.
We can all use a big dose of self-evaluation. Myself included. I try to do this ever so often. Not as often as I should. After I really look deep down in myself I’m usually not that happy with the findings. After the feeling of my foot being shoved down my throat is over, I usually feel better. If we really take a good look at our own lives, our own flaws, our own sins, our own weaknesses in our faith, this is when we can find ways to free ourselves of this restraints.
Unless we make a very cognitive and prayerful effort this is something we all can struggle with. Imagine if we spend more time judging ourselves as opposed to our family, friends and colleagues how much more energy we would have to grow our relationship with God. Imagine how much more pleasing to the Lord we would be if our judgements are mostly reserved for ourselves in an attempt to be more like Him.
I’m going to leave you with the last verses in Matthew 7:6. This verse ends Jesus’ lesson on judging others. I wanted to share it with you because of the very creative metaphor that He uses. If it interests you, I encourage you to research the meaning.
“Do not give dogs what is sacred; do not throw your pearls to pigs. If you do, they may trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you to pieces.
Matthew 7:6 NIV
I pray that you have found this useful in your own life. I pray that you will be slower to judge others and use that time to look deep within yourself. If you enjoyed this article please like, share and follow below to receive new articles when posted.
Have a BLESSED day.
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Tiffany Shepherd 