”...The Lord does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” (1 Samuel 16:7 NIV)

    “Sylvia didn’t invite me to the tea she had last week,” Angie said bitterly. “She doesn’t like the fact that I had lunch with Suzie a few weeks ago and didn’t invite her. This is her way of getting back at me.”

    In reality the tea was in honor of someone Angie hardly knew and Sylvia didn’t think Angie would want to come. As for Angie’s lunch with Suzie, Sylvia hadn’t even known about it! Angie was mad at Sylvia for no other reason than her incorrect assumptions. Oh, to have a heart that doesn’t judge! It’s simply too easy to take our thoughts and feelings and project them in another’s heart. The truth is there is no way to know another person’s thoughts and feelings, only God can do that. But often we think we know... and so we fall into the trap of judging others.

    Jesus 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.” (Matthew 7:1)

    Remember the story of the woman caught in the act of adultery? The Pharisees and teachers of the law brought her to Jesus and wanted to know if they should stone her as the Law of Moses commanded. His response? “If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.” (John 8:7)

    I certainly can’t pick up a stone, how about you?

    When I was younger I used to have a re-occurring dream that I would forget to get dressed and go to school in my pajamas. All my classmates would turn, look at me, and laugh. I still remember the horrible feeling I had even after I woke up and realized it was just a dream.

    And that is exactly what it feels like when we are judged.

    Jesus didn’t judge the woman who had sinned. In fact, after the rock-throwing wannabees left he said, “Woman where are they? Has no one condemned you?”

    “No one, sir,” she said.

“If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.”

    “Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.”

    Judging others is not Christ-like. Jesus reached out to lepers, prostitutes, and the mentally ill. He didn’t let a persons differences or disabilities keep Him from loving them. He lived and died so that everyone could have a home in heaven.

    Jesus is the ultimate non-discriminator. Minority status, income, skin-color, diseases, none of those things matter to Him. And they shouldn’t matter to us either. Let’s be careful about the assumptions we make about each other and let’s be sure we never use them to judge one another. It’s just not what Jesus would have us do!

Heavenly Father, thank you so much for your son. Help me to not judge others but to have a heart like His, a heart full of love and compassion. In His precious and holy name I pray. Amen.