God’s Word reminds us not to judge others, because He is their only judge and they stand or fall according to His dictates, not ours (Isaiah 33:22; Romans 14:4). We may be looking at them through our own insecurities, prejudices and goals, rather than God’s wisdom and truth.
The problem may be in our attitude or focus, not in their words or actions. Flaws that we notice in them, may be a reflection of what is inside of us. God advises us to remove the log from our own eyes, rather than to attempt to remove the tiny splinter from someone else’s life (Matthew 7:3-5).
The meaner that people act, the more they need our prayers. A secret trial may be affecting their behavior, and they need our patience and concern, not our judgment. We can never assume that we know the truth about them, because we may be sorely mistaken.
It has been said that we should never judge another by the moment of their performance. We do not want others judging us if we give in to frustration, or the pain of some hidden illness, and act like an inappropriate child of God. We want to receive grace and understanding from them. So, it is only right that we extend the same mercy to others as well.
Even if a person acts unsuitably all the time, we can show them the love of God, which may help to solve the issues that are causing them to operate in unbecoming ways. If we appropriately discipline our reactions to life, we can even provide them with an example of alternative ways of acting.
They may need more than tolerance from us, because they can often read our facial expressions and body language toward them. We can ask God to give us His agape love for them, pray for them, and inquire from our Lord to discover how we can help them to feel better about themselves and to teach them how they can react more Biblically to life.
Prayer:
Father God, thank You for loving us in spite of our unlovable qualities. Remind us that You love the whole world with Your self-sacrificing love (John 3:16-17). Therefore, we can learn from Your Spirit to love a few little lost souls in the midst of our life experience. We all need unconditional love in our life, even if it only comes from one other person.
Help us to pay attention to others with an open heart and listening ears, as well as body language that is focused on the other person and not on our own concerns or our next event. Remind us that if the light of Christ within us shines brightly, He will use it to draw people to Himself (John 12:32).
Thought for the Day:
To help people know that we care about them, we move beyond merely tolerating their quirky behavior and attitude, and we accept them just the way they are; if we truly want the best for them, they will instinctively know it, but if we only half-heartedly pay attention to them, they will know that too.
