SAMANTHA ELLEY talks about our struggle with judging others…
Northern Rivers, New South Wales, Australia
PICTURE: Feodora Chiosea/iStockphoto.
“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
Many, many years ago I started dating a guy from my youth group. He was one of the leaders and seen as a ‘strong Christian’.
I was a young Christian and many of my friends, while still attending the youth group, were on the fringes. They smoked and some even did drugs, but they would come to the Friday night group as it was fun and they were happy to put up with the Bible lessons in exchange for the games and charismatic magnetism of the youth minister at the time.
“We all judge. It is easy to look at someone and place them in a pigeon hole without knowing their value within….With social media these days, it can be a free for all where we sum up a person or situation without knowing all, if any, of the facts.”
My new boyfriend and his friends didn’t know this group of young people like I did, as they were my school friends and added extras and I had spent time with them. I didn’t smoke or do drugs but was happy to hang with them when they came to the youth group.
I was told by my boyfriend that he had been warned away from me because of the people I hung out with. I had effectively been judged on appearance, simply because of who my friends were.
The well-meaning friend of my boyfriend did not know me very well, so was judging a situation he had no understanding or knowledge of.
As it happens, I ended up marrying one of those fringe friends. No longer a rebel and with an active faith, he contributes to the church we belong to on the Northern Rivers.
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We all judge. It is easy to look at someone and place them in a pigeon hole without knowing their value within. I constantly have to discipline myself to not place my own judgements on people. With social media these days, it can be a free for all where we sum up a person or situation without knowing all, if any, of the facts.
How can we know what is in people’s hearts? How do we know how God is interacting with those who may not fit our ‘biscuit cutter’ version of what a Christian is?
We can certainly pray for people and ask that God be part of their lives, but what a relief that judgement is not a task God has given us. Because I’d say nine times out of 10 we will get it wrong or at best, only partially right.
