Who Am I to Judge?

"Why do you always look so judgmental?"

This is a question that people ask me often, and usually, I don't realize what I'm doing until someone calls me out on it. Typically, it's just my face, but there are times when it's more than that. I am someone that struggles with trying to always find the good in people. I feel like it is fairly easy to judge people, whether it's based on appearance, what you've heard about them, or how they act. One specific thing that I used to catch myself thinking often was, "They have so much sin in their life. At least I’m not that bad." LET ME TELL YOU!! This is beyond wrong. I am a sinner, you are a sinner, we are all sinners. I have no right to look at other people's sins and compare them to my own when every single sin I commit is just as bad. 

In God's eyes, all sin is equal. It is all evil, and against Him. Therefore, comparing the gossip I might have started at lunch to the murder that a criminal commits so that I feel better about myself, is pointless. God sees it all the same way. It's wrong, filthy, and unworthy, and we aren't loving Christ when we sin. That topic is for another blog post, though. 

Back to judging... Matthew 7:1-5 says "Judge not, that you be not judged. For with the judgement you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you. Why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' when there is the log in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye."

I read the She Reads Truth devotionals sometimes, and I remember reading a quote about a year ago that has since stuck with me. It said "If He is a sweet river of forgiveness, what business do I have blowing holes in everyone's boats as they travel down that river?" That hurts. I'd say that I'm pretty good at pointing out the flaws in people. Maybe not verbally, but in my mind, yep. This is not something I am, or ever will be, proud of doing. It isn't something that is easy to just get over. We’re human, we all struggle with things like this. I can only resist this sin with Jesus. 

It is not my place to judge people. That is the Lord's job, and that is something I have had to learn to accept. I'm not saying that I have been able to completely walk away from the temptation and sin of judging, because I haven't. It is so much simpler to think of what people could fix to be better, or what they are doing wrong, or what they don't have, than what is GOOD. Friends, I'm here to tell you that you aren't alone in your battle with sins like these. I'm fighting with you. It's worth it--the straight and narrow path. I pray you will find it, be able to stay on it, and despite the enemy, finish on it. Our sins are wrong, and we should be convicted of them. I know that I most certainly have felt that conviction just through writing to you. I pray you will be able to flee the devil and the temptation from him in the coming days, and that you would stand firm in your faith. May we be as quick to pray as we are to judge. 

In case y'all haven't already noticed, I am honestly a complete mess. I write this blog as an attempt to be real, and open with you. It's difficult getting this honest about sin I struggle with for hundreds of people to know about, but I feel that, in the end, it's worth it. I always pray that the Lord can use these posts in someway to help you and I grow closer to Him. This is why I felt led to post this. People are not always quick to admit where they struggle, or how they struggle. It took me months to post this. I didn't want to be this vulnerable, but I realized it was the enemy getting to me, and I needed to put on the armor of God and share my struggles. After all, I am gracefully broken, and that’s something I find worth sharing about.

-Gracie