Here Come Da Judge.

I love how easy it is to be wrong for me lately. The other day I was out getting some fast food for lunch with some friends from work, when I saw a rather obese woman eating.  I had a thought, and immediately decided to share it on twitter and so with facebook as well.  My thought was “does anyone else feel like they are watching an alcoholic take shots when they watch an obese person eating fast food?” I thought it was a clever yet true statement and found myself laughing as I sent it. I went on to enjoy my lunch and then headed back to work. On my way back I was thinking about what we would be discussing with my friends as we are talking about the book The Shack by WM. Paul Young. The actual part of the book that I thought might be interesting was a paragraph where the character Mack is asked by another person to be the judge of others. His response…

“What? Me? I’d rather not,” he paused. “I don’t have any ability to judge.”

 “Oh, that is not true,” returned the quick reply tinged now with a hint of sarcasm. “You have already proved yourself very capable, even in our short time together. And besides, you have judged many through your life. You have judged the actions and even the motivations of others, as if you somehow knew what those were in truth. You have judged the color of skin and body language and body odor. You have judged history and relationships. You have even judged the value of a person’s life by the quality of your concept of beauty. By all accounts, you are quite well-practiced in the activity.”

So as I drove back to my office thinking about this passage and how do I judge others to make myself feel better on a daily basis, it struck me. I had just done it. I had looked down on that lady at the fast food place and had even gone a step farther to mock her in a public forum. Ouch, reality can really be striking sometimes.

When I got back to my desk, I looked at my computer and realized that there were 17 new updates and I already knew what they were going to be about. They were going to be comments on my ignorant comment. The dialogue I joined was a good one. All I can say is I was humbled and ate crow as I realized again how easy it is to judge and dismiss others in some perverted attempt to make myself feel better. Special thanks to Kristin and Matt who are always merciful but helpful in opening my eyes to own bias.

Matthew 7:1 “Do not judge so that you will not be judged.”