2 minute read.
Daily Reading: Genesis 26-27 GW; Matthew 7 GW
If you don’t want judging, don’t judge.
Judging is something we all do. Assessing other people is so much a part of our lives; we don’t even realize we do it. Nicholas Rule, in his article Snap-Judgement Science, defines our quick decisions this way:
“Whether we’re selecting a cashier at a grocery store or picking players for a neighborhood ball game, we go through a detailed and complicated process of noticing cues that give away other people’s traits, and then we unconsciously run a series of calculations to make predictions about how they might act.”
As a human being, you make snap judgments. Judging is natural for us. Part of surviving in life is the ability to decipher between good or bad. If you can judge a situation as dangerous, you can avoid it. The same applies to people; identifying unhealthy people in your life helps set appropriate boundaries in the relationship.
Judge on facts, not fiction. Recognize your snap judgments are uninformed. The knowledge you have is limited; people always have untold stories you don’t know.
When you stop judging, so will others.
Understanding we all judge helps us stop judging. Often, when we are talking about people, stereotypes are a factor. Having an “oversimplified image or idea of a particular person or thing” is common for all of us. We have to fight past our preconceived notions of people to get to know them. In other words, look past the surface. Ask questions that will take your relationship to a deeper level.
Stop judging; start loving. Everyone you meet today is someone God loves.
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Lord, forgive us for judging others incorrectly. Help us do better. When we meet people throughout this day, help us remember, You love them. Instead of looking at the surface, help us go more in-depth. We all carry pain within us, pain we don’t expose to the world. Help us not add to others pain. As we seek You today, fill us with what we need to love the world around us. The hurting, the sick, the weak, let us see them all. And then help us to love them as You would have us do. IJNIP. Amen
Question for reflection
Who have you passed judgment on too quickly?
