Saturday Feb 1, 2014 Don’t judge what you don’t know. Judge what you know. Don’t judge at all. Which? Judging what you don’t now speaks for itself. And yet it’s done it’s the time. We do it about people, about places, even about churches. I run into people who want to tell me what’s wrong with the church in general, and sometime even our church in particular. Often when pressed, what you hear when you ask about their feeling and thinking is this: “Oh, I don’t do church.” Or “Well, somebody told me that,” Now those are thoughtful and knowledgeable judgments! The ‘don’t judge at all’ world sounds like one with no opinions or strong convictions. Having an opinion and conviction is different from judging. Judging is an arrogant putting down of the life or opinions of someone else. We all know someone who “Knows it all, has it all right, and is doggone sure that what certain others are thinking and doing is all wrong.” It’s precisely that kind of judging that I think Jesus had in mind when he said: “Don’t judge others.” (Matthew 7:1) The verse (7:5) translated by the late J.B.Phillips, “Why do you see that speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye, but miss the two by four in your own,” always calls me to stop and learn and look and listen, and even then to proceed slowly with judgment. If we could judge with what we know with a bit more grace and concern for the ‘poor wayward person’ we’re trying to reach, we might be more effective in our reaching. I remember hearing “Here comes the judge” in my younger years. Checking it out, I learned it was a song by Pigmeat Markham )(yep, that’s his name—double checked in trying to judge fairly as to whether or not to mention it), but it was Flip Wilson who made the phrase better known on TV. Wouldn’t you feel badly if when you are I came into the room, the thought inside people there was just that: Here comes the judge? I judge along the way. It’s wrong and I know it. Sometimes my ‘two by four’ snuffs out my clear thinking and seeing. My Latin teacher at Millsaps, Magnolia Coulett (grand lady…) would say to us: “Donec non ambulantes in calceamento iudicas fratrem tuum,” (Don’t judge your brother until you walk in his shoes). In a book I’m reading just now, the author tells of the rich boy in high school who won all the honors, was adored by the girls, judged ‘too handsome and too arrogant’ by many others, who took his life the first year he was in college.* If only someone had really come to know this kid—inside and out—without resenting or judging—him. If only. Perhaps the saddest two word reality check in all the world. I can get judgmental. Lots of times. About lots of things—especially about people who judge! I’m a ‘sawdust’ expert, but a novice in terms of two by fours! So, let’s just stop judging, and if you don’t, well, then I think…** Always love, always, Keith *In The Light, by Jack Zuckerman ** Kindly smile if only for the hint of a second, please… Makes me think of Emerson’s “Speak the truth in words as hard as cannon balls, and then tomorrow if you change your mind, then…” At least, let’s listen, learn and feel with before we judge.
Posted on: Sat, 01 Feb 2014 12:50:34 +0000
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