Never Judge a Person based on their past

Judging others does not define who they are; it defines who we are.

Jesus admonishes the crowd for judging an adulteress who is about to be stoned to death (“Let he who is without sin cast the first stone”), and in Matthew 7:1, He also said: “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."

I believe Jesus wasn’t against judging per se. He was cautioning us not to judge others in a hypocritical way. He is telling us to take the log out of our own eye so that we can help the other person. We shouldn’t be habitually critical of someone when our own sin needs correction as well. 

As Christians, with all our imperfections and failures, God chose to see us as holy and blameless (Ephesians 1:4). Let us continually grow to be like Christ and see people through His eyes, and be merciful and gracious to them. 

Here are 3 ways to refrain from judging others:

1. Be mindful. Although judgment is a natural instinct, try to catch yourself before you speak, or send that nasty email and do any potential harm. You can’t get your words back. Pause. See if you can understand where the person may be coming from. Try to rephrase your critical internal thought into a positive one, or at least a neutral one. After all, like that dog in the trap, we really don’t know the reasons for someone’s behavior.

2. Depersonalize. When someone disagrees with us or somehow makes our life difficult, remember that it’s typically not about us. Don’t take it personally. It may be about their pain or struggle. Why not give others the benefit of the doubt? “Never underestimate the pain of a person," Will Smith said, "because in all honesty, everyone is struggling. Some people are better at hiding it than others.”

3. Look for basic goodness. This takes practice, as our minds naturally scan for the negative, but if we try, we can almost always find something good about another person.

At the end of the day, don't be judgmental, be discerning instead. 

A person who learns to be both discerning and non-judgmental will experience tremendous freedom in expressing his/her true, authentic, opinions about others and not feel weighed down by the worry that he/she is being judgmental. 

John 13

34 “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. 35 By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

People with challenging pasts do change and move on. We should do likewise. 

Have a great week ahead!

Fred Tokè aka Tokémon