HisPathway

It is so easy to judge.

Just look at the loner down the street, or the woman who has jumped from relationship to relationship, or the man who is drowning in the depths of his alcoholism.  Just look at the person who is rapidly spiraling down a destructive slope but can’t see it, and what about that person who all of a sudden turned into someone that you “don’t know anymore” because their behavior is radically different than it used to be?

These people are good targets for gossip and judgment.  These people are easy to point fingers at and tell our gossip buddies how messed up they are and how selfish they are.  So often they, in a weird sort of way, help the gossiper feel somewhat vindicated that they somehow have life far more figured out.

Most of us have been in either the shoes of the gossiper or the shoes of the one being gossiped about—or both!  It is human nature, I believe, to examine the appearance of any given situation and immediately draw conclusions and pass judgment.  Often, our judgment is so critical, that we avoid the one we perceive as messed up, and we perpetuate the negative comments, fuel the community gossip, and heighten the negativity that surrounds them.

But we were told in Scripture not to judge.  We are also told in Scripture that God deeply loves all of us—even the sinner.  And, we are also told that our ultimate goal is to become as Christ-like as possible in our journey.

But…let’s face it…the world is getting darker by the day, people are becoming less moral, and society has been desensitized by behavior that would have been shocking just twenty years ago.  People are just flat out doing irrational, impulsive, and selfish things these days…and without having a sense of why, we just sit back and cover our mouths in anger and disbelief and point our finger in judgment of them.

We think to ourselves that God will love us more because our lives are not quite that messed up and because we are not making such “irrational” and “selfish” choices. We think that God will be more proud of us because our lives don’t necessarily reflect the crazy messed up life of the one we are so brazenly criticizing…as we avoid them, judge them, and continue to hurt them by our own behavior.

How can God love people who are so messed up and who have done hurtful things to others?  How can God expect us not to judge them?  Why does God expect us to love them unconditionally, when clearly, their actions warrant condemnation and not loving support?

I am of the opinion that God does not expect us to condone and approve of poor choices and decisions, but I happen to believe that God loves those people very much because He understands that the basis of their outward lifestyle and choices are not a reflection of their value and worth, but a reflection of the pain and anguish that they have suffered from previous experiences that the world has not been privy to.  He understands that often poor choices, selfishness, and other behaviors that people are so critical of, are often a result of deep pain…pain that no one knows about…pain that must be balanced with something that counteracts it or numbs it.  Often the counteractive behaviors are those very things that invite hurtful judgments from others.

Think about Jesus and the adulteress.  She was caught in the act of adultery, and every one of her peers insisted that she be stoned to death.  Yet, Jesus, in all His wisdom and love for her, recognized her deep emptiness and recognized her behavior as a means to try to fill her deep emptiness.  He did not sentence her to death, He reached out to her and forgave her.  How and why?  I just believe that Jesus knows where we came from and understands that circumstances often drive people to do things they would not have otherwise done had they not been subject to hurtful influences that often propel them on destructive paths.   He sees our potential and value and does not assign it to our lifestyle.  He recognizes that we are all sinners and that we all make poor choices—some perhaps worse than others—but we are all in need of forgiveness….no matter what we have done or not done.

Jesus reached out to this woman.

Jesus forgave this woman.

Jesus loved this woman.

Jesus talked to this woman.

Jesus helped this woman.

Not once did He gossip about her, smite her, judge her, or condemn her.  He offered His love and forgiveness, and told her to “go and sin no more”. 

We can’t see the depths of pain that people carry…directly.  But often if we detect behaviors that scream selfishness, destruction, immorality (anything that invites judgment), we might be able to determine that there is pain somewhere within.  We can choose to do the opposite of Jesus and point our fingers, gossip about them, and avoid them…or we can reach out to them, love them, and offer Christ-like support to them as Jesus did to the woman caught in adultery.

We simply don’t know what people are going through…we don’t know the pain and trauma they might harbor.  Let’s challenge ourselves to stop adding to their trauma by being so judgmental and critical, and strive to reach out and talk to them and guide them into the path of forgiveness that WE ALL need.  Jesus Christ is the only way to forgiveness.  Share Jesus.

John 8: 1-11

But Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. Now early in the morning He came again into the temple, and all the people came to Him; and He sat down and taught them. 3 Then the scribes and Pharisees brought to Him a woman caught in adultery. And when they had set her in the midst, they said to Him, “Teacher, this woman was caught in adultery, in the very act. Now Moses, in the law, commanded us that such should be stoned. But what do You say?” This they said, testing Him, that they might have something of which to accuse Him. But Jesus stooped down and wrote on the ground with His finger, as though He did not hear.

So when they continued asking Him, He raised Himself up and said to them, “He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first.”  And again He stooped down and wrote on the ground.  Then those who heard it, being convicted by their conscience, went out one by one, beginning with the oldest even to the last. And Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst.  When Jesus had raised Himself up and saw no one but the woman, He said to her, “Woman, where are those accusers of yours, Has no one condemned you?” She said, “No one, Lord.”
And Jesus said to her, “Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more.”