Judging Others

  Therefore thou art inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art that judgest: for wherein thou judgest another, thou condemnest thyself; for thou that judgest doest the same things. Romans 2:1

The following website explains what this passage means better than I can, so please go there if you want more info about it.    I am going to copy a portion of it here for you, that is meaningful to me. 

What does Romans 2:1 mean?

Paul now seems to read the minds of these self-appointed "judges." He says to them—to all of us, really—that they are not the one with the gavel. You, "oh man," are the one on trial. And we are all guilty. How can this be? Paul says it plainly, "You do the same things." In addition to participating in some of the sins Paul lists in Romans 1, these judges also practice the sin of hypocrisy in their judgment of other guilty people.

Judged? I felt judged in this church. From pretty much the beginning. Why? Because at the time, I had four children ages 1-10, an alcoholic husband, and I wore glasses.

Wore glasses? What?

This church did not believe in doctors of any kind. Even if you broke a leg. Honestly, one boy did from another city. I am not sure if the parents did deny him medical help, but I digress because I do not know. What I do know is that the church leaders taught against it. How do you deny medical treatment for children that are sick. They even had home births. So you may imagine that wearing glasses was quite taboo as well. I tried hard to believe the way they taught. But honestly, I needed glasses because I was born with an eye disease and it has continued to deteriorate over the years even up to now. 

I did not ask pity for it, just understanding. Which I never got. Because one thing that made me leave that church eventually was the fact that after I had not stopped wearing glasses after close two years into my attending there, I was called out in a sermon about it. Oh, not by name. But I knew who it was about, and it had been very embarrassing. 

Judging others? Paul had it right back in his day. I had felt very judged. But that wasn't just meant for his day, but ours as well. 

Those people, or at least some of them, had no idea what my home life was like at that time. And it was not very good. (To be fair, I think that a few did have empathy for my situation. Those that didn't feel they were not so perfect, that they got to know me a bit even though they were probably encouraged not to get too close.)

Judging others is something that I try very hard not to do. I admit I am not a perfect person, and believe me I do know it. But I do know what it is like to be made a spectacle of someone elses judgment, even if I was not called out by name. I didn't like it and so I work on that all these years later, so that I don't do the same to those that aren't doing what I think they should.

Thanks for coming today, Friends. Have a blessed day!