Several years ago after exiting the Christmas candlelight service, there was a long table full of hundreds of Christmas cookies. I saw some snowflake cookies that I knew would delight my children, so I took four, one for each of my children. A woman who was standing to the side looked at me with hatred and venom. She must have thought I was taking them for myself.
This just goes to show that nearly 100% of our judgment of others is false. God says we do not know other people’s motives, and for that reason, we should not judge, lest we be judged. (Matthew 7:1) If God says we don’t know their motives, then God is right. God is not a liar. The only exception to the rule of not judging is if you see someone clearly stealing or something that you know for sure is wrong, as far as an action that is condemned by God, then you should tell a fellow believer to stop, because they might be blind to their sin. We are never to judge the unsaved.
After delivering the cookies to my children, I went back to the table, and by that time, my favorite snowflake cookies were gone. I thought, oh well, I’m gaining weight anyway and don’t want to get fat. But I was sad not to have a snowflake cookie. My stomach growled. I looked at the woman who had judged me, but she was too busy micro-managing something else.
So this year when I was at a craft supply store, I picked up a snowflake cookie cutter. I made a sugar cookie recipe, frosted it with white frosting, and had the children decorate with light blue frosting (use blue egg dye) and sparkly white sprinkles. Our finished snowflake cookies didn’t look nearly as good as those magical cookies that Christmas night years ago.
Out of the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks Luke 6:45
(and the spirit judges).
All too often, we (yes, even Christians) forget to leave the judging up to God and focus instead on what He commanded us to do:
Matthew 22:36-40
“Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?”And He said to him, “ ‘YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND.’ “This is the great and foremost commandment. “The second is like it, ‘YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.’ “On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets.”
God knows your heart!
Yes! If you love God and others more than yourself, you will never feel venom towards people. Love is definitely the key to overcoming a judgmental attitude toward other people.
It’s way too easy to jump to wrong conclusions. You never know what another person is going through.
I bet your cookies tasted great though!
Yes, the cookies were yummy. I took a plate of cookies to an elderly widower, and he was happy that I thought of him.