JUDGE NOT

A pastor was once speaking at a large conference in Washington. Being the main speaker, his sessions were always full and everyone was very attentive, except for one man. One man always sat in the same seat in the front row of his sessions, and halfway into the sermon he would fall asleep. The first time it happened, the pastor thought the man had experienced a tough day of driving to get to the conference and accidently fell asleep. But night after night the same thing happened. Annoyed by the occurrence, the pastor had developed a bitter spirit toward this man. After the conference, the man’s wife approached the pastor and apologized for the man’s actions. As she explained, he had recently been diagnosed with terminal cancer, and the new medicine made him drowsy. But his one wish was to hear that pastor preach before he died, so they had made the long, painful journey to be at the conference. (Daily In The Word) How sad it is when we jump to conclusions, when we are guilty of judging others without knowing the facts. I’m sure we would be a lot less judgmental if we had to walk a mile in the other person’s shoes. When Jesus said,”Judge not”, He wasn’t saying that we should ignore facts. He was warning us about judging others presumptously, hypocritically, hastily, and un-mercifully. Things are not always what they appear to be. Make sure that you know the facts before you criticize someone. It just might be that you are a lot worse than you think they are.