I need to confess, and hopefully it will encourage you today as well.
Lately, I’ve been doing some judging of others. If you have been with me long enough, you know how I feel about judging. It is a big no no in Stephanie’s world. I don’t like it and find it to be extremely hypocritical, and the scriptures say it is too.
Well, I had heard a tidbit of information about someone. I took this information to warn someone else about this person who was about to begin a relationship with them. The information came from a reliable source, but I had no business first of all sharing it (gossiping) and secondly passing judgment on the poor soul, whom I have never met!
The next day, God had been working on my heart and I felt the need to apologize to the one I had shared the information with. What I had done was totally pull the cum folder on this person.
See, I’m a retired teacher. I spent the majority of my years teaching elementary school. Each year were supposed to view the students’ cum folder (a permanent record in the public school system that follows with you year to year). At the end of a school year, we wrote information regarding each student to share with the next teacher. I was NOT one who viewed these cum folders as intensely as I was asked to do so. Most students, I didn’t even view their folder. Why? Because I didn’t want to form an opinion based on someone else’s observance or experience, yet get to know he child on my own terms. Now, there were times I definitely read the cum folder because of a learning deficiency, but for the most part, reserving my opinion was based strictly on the relationship between me and the student.
I had allowed myself to view the cum folder of this person without being introduced to them. I’m sorry.
Then, the words of the worship leader at my church this past Sunday hit me in the gut. He has been through a difficult season of health issues and has had time to be still. Being still is often a good thing, but it can also be the time when Satan likes get into your mind. Satan had been whispering to him thoughts like, “you’re not good enough”, “people don’t like you”, and other statements that caused doubt. Yet, God was whispering a bit louder that what he is doing and who he is is enough for God and as long as he is living for and serving Jesus, that is what matters.
His quick testimony hit home for me. Judegmenntal thoughts I have been having about someone and myself came to the forefront of my mind. God gave me a good whoopin’ and opened my eyes to the log in my own eye.
“Don’t judge others, and God will not judge you. If you judge others, you will be judged the same way you judge them. God will treat you the same way you treat others. “Why do you notice the small piece of dust that is in your friend’s eye, but you don’t notice the big piece of wood that is in your own? Why do you say to your friend, ‘Let me take that piece of dust out of your eye’? Look at yourself first! You still have that big piece of wood in your own eye. You are a hypocrite! First, take the wood out of your own eye. Then you will see clearly to get the dust out of your friend’s eye. Matthew 7:1-5 00ERV
The God whisper moment for me was, “Stephanie, others may not like the way you write or how your voice sounds, but as long as you are doing it for Me and bringing glory and honor to Me, keep doing it.” True God, true. I frequently allow doubt to creep into my mind, but God always reminds me, “Just one. Reach just one.”
“Don’t pick on people, jump on their failures, criticize their faults—unless, of course, you want the same treatment. That critical spirit has a way of boomeranging. It’s easy to see a smudge on your neighbor’s face and be oblivious to the ugly sneer on your own. Do you have the nerve to say, ‘Let me wash your face for you,’ when your own face is distorted by contempt? It’s this whole traveling road-show mentality all over again, playing a holier-than-thou part instead of just living your part. Wipe that ugly sneer off your own face, and you might be fit to offer a washcloth to your neighbor. Matthew 7:1-5 MSG
So, my friend, do you need to wipe the smudge and sneer off your face? Don’t pull out the cum folder on someone before you’ve even meet them. Don’t be a hypocrite. Let God deal with you and start transforming your heart. Live righteously.
Blessings to you and yours,
Stephanie
