The bible tells us that we will be judge by the standard of which we judge others. It seems quite fair and simple.
It is fair, but it is not simple. The more we really think of the meaning of the principle the more we see how often we fail.
We constantly tell others not to assume, but we constantly assume ourselves. We criticize others for missing details in their work, but we do not focus on the details in our own work.
It takes many forms, but we are often harder on others than we are on our self. Often the principles of the bible only seem easy because we lack the spiritual discernment to see our lack.
God's grace is overflowing for our lack. He knows our weakness and need for growth. We live day by day by grace even as we grow in the knowledge of our weakness.
Showing posts with label judge. Show all posts
Showing posts with label judge. Show all posts
Tuesday, September 29, 2015
Wednesday, January 14, 2015
No Person Beyond Critique
There is no person in life past or present, save Jesus, who is beyond some critique. We often understand this intellectually, but practically it often comes out that this or that person we view as completely beyond any critique.
It is easy for us to glorify people as beyond critique. It is our nature to wish to have people to look to past or present who cannot err. It makes things simple.
The reality is that all people are fallen and have issues. If someone has a critique of a figure we respect it does not make the person our enemy. The person's critique may be completely off base but it does not make the thinking of the person unworthy of listing to necessarily.
You see too often we judge a person's thought so quickly. Oh they like reading Karl Barth and I don't like Barth therefore they aren't worth talking to. Or they are fond of reading Vanhoozer and I like Vanhoozer therefore they are worth talking to.
It is subtle and rarely so blatant but often we judge a thinker by who they like before we hear what they have to say. It is not that who a person likes to read had no influence on who the person is, but rather we may find many people who enjoy reading similar figures as ourselves who have nothing of value to say and many people who enjoy reading people we are skeptical of who have much of value to say.
You see who a person likes to read or finds interesting to read is of little importance compared to what a person thinks and does. We often judge people for the most odd reasons. Of course we are fallen but the more we accept that we do make odd decisions and have done so the less prone we become to make odd decisions in the future.
We often need to wait and see. We often judge too early in a conversation if a person's thought will or will not be good and thus we often err in our judgement.
It is easy for us to glorify people as beyond critique. It is our nature to wish to have people to look to past or present who cannot err. It makes things simple.
The reality is that all people are fallen and have issues. If someone has a critique of a figure we respect it does not make the person our enemy. The person's critique may be completely off base but it does not make the thinking of the person unworthy of listing to necessarily.
You see too often we judge a person's thought so quickly. Oh they like reading Karl Barth and I don't like Barth therefore they aren't worth talking to. Or they are fond of reading Vanhoozer and I like Vanhoozer therefore they are worth talking to.
It is subtle and rarely so blatant but often we judge a thinker by who they like before we hear what they have to say. It is not that who a person likes to read had no influence on who the person is, but rather we may find many people who enjoy reading similar figures as ourselves who have nothing of value to say and many people who enjoy reading people we are skeptical of who have much of value to say.
You see who a person likes to read or finds interesting to read is of little importance compared to what a person thinks and does. We often judge people for the most odd reasons. Of course we are fallen but the more we accept that we do make odd decisions and have done so the less prone we become to make odd decisions in the future.
We often need to wait and see. We often judge too early in a conversation if a person's thought will or will not be good and thus we often err in our judgement.
Saturday, October 4, 2014
Is God Enough?
Is God enough? The true answer sums up greatly the maturity of a Christian. Of course we all know the right answer to say, but the right answer and the true answer are often different.
The bible emphatically says that God is enough. If you choose God over everything else you have made a wise choice. It is good to not have to choose, but it highlights our understanding.
God is our father in heaven who is complete in goodness in himself and desires to draw us into eternal fellowship with himself. We often doubt God's goodness to us. We question if God is really enough.
God is truly more than enough. It is difficult to see from our limited perspective. We are in the thick of the difficulties of life and often cannot see things. Sometimes years after the fact we can see some sign of the reason for things, but we often never find the answers.
You see we live by faith. God shows us what we need to know, but he asks us to have faith and does not show us everything. We are saved by faith. We continue our journey in the Christian life in faith. God shows us what we need to know and often more than we need to know, but he never shows us everything.
He asks us to trust him and follow him. Sometimes it fells like it does not make sense to follow God because we are so close to the problems. God knows our nature and loves us anyway.
We often in life try to hide this or that flaw because we feel we may not be accepted. Maybe we have goofy tastes in music and others will laugh because we are not "refined in our music taste" or maybe we are "not cool" or "not reverent." Often people judge others by the most strange measures.
We judge preferences in music, food, style as if it says something absolute. We can be quite absurd at times if we are honest. God knows all of this and loves us anyway. He guides us in the Christian life, helping us to grow all the while knowing far more about our failings than we ever will.
The bible emphatically says that God is enough. If you choose God over everything else you have made a wise choice. It is good to not have to choose, but it highlights our understanding.
God is our father in heaven who is complete in goodness in himself and desires to draw us into eternal fellowship with himself. We often doubt God's goodness to us. We question if God is really enough.
God is truly more than enough. It is difficult to see from our limited perspective. We are in the thick of the difficulties of life and often cannot see things. Sometimes years after the fact we can see some sign of the reason for things, but we often never find the answers.
You see we live by faith. God shows us what we need to know, but he asks us to have faith and does not show us everything. We are saved by faith. We continue our journey in the Christian life in faith. God shows us what we need to know and often more than we need to know, but he never shows us everything.
He asks us to trust him and follow him. Sometimes it fells like it does not make sense to follow God because we are so close to the problems. God knows our nature and loves us anyway.
We often in life try to hide this or that flaw because we feel we may not be accepted. Maybe we have goofy tastes in music and others will laugh because we are not "refined in our music taste" or maybe we are "not cool" or "not reverent." Often people judge others by the most strange measures.
We judge preferences in music, food, style as if it says something absolute. We can be quite absurd at times if we are honest. God knows all of this and loves us anyway. He guides us in the Christian life, helping us to grow all the while knowing far more about our failings than we ever will.
Monday, September 29, 2014
An Essential Part of Love - The Need for Boundaries
Post by
Michelle Dowell, Co-Contributor
When Jesus tells us to love everyone, that means and includes respect, and one important part of respect is relational boundaries.
Some Christians believe that everyone should share every detail of their life with other Christians. A person who is okay with sharing everything about their life sometimes will pry into another person's life, possibly not realizing that each person has preferences on that and that should be respected.
It could be the over-realized eschatology that has seeped into some popular Christian thinking. If people think that everyone is perfect here and now, then if someone shares some sad part of their life or past that the other people won't judge or be weird about it. But that's the thing. Christians still judge, gossip, and aren't nice about things at times. We are all sinners the Bible says. And it's not until we are in heaven that we aren't sinners.
So it's wise for people to be careful about what they share and who they share it with, even if the person they are considering sharing details with is a Christian. It helps protect from unhelpful and sometimes relationally damaging judgement and gossip from happening.
I've heard someone say that sharing every detail with others helps others and the community realize that life and people are not perfect. They hear not perfect things in other people's life and therefore know that they are okay--bad things happen to everyone. However, there are many other ways to see and know that the world is not perfect. It doesn't have to come through "over-sharing."
We can still trust people and other Christians--it's just that trust should grow over time. Just like trusting people with job responsibilities. You trust them with little, and how they take care of little determines if you can trust them with more. And the nature of time is that we only have time to invest deeply in a small amount of relationships, so we don't have the time to develop deep relationships with everyone. Just because two people are Christians doesn't mean they automatically or will eventually be best friends. Each person is created with unique likes and a unique personality.
Michelle Dowell, Co-Contributor
When Jesus tells us to love everyone, that means and includes respect, and one important part of respect is relational boundaries.
Some Christians believe that everyone should share every detail of their life with other Christians. A person who is okay with sharing everything about their life sometimes will pry into another person's life, possibly not realizing that each person has preferences on that and that should be respected.
It could be the over-realized eschatology that has seeped into some popular Christian thinking. If people think that everyone is perfect here and now, then if someone shares some sad part of their life or past that the other people won't judge or be weird about it. But that's the thing. Christians still judge, gossip, and aren't nice about things at times. We are all sinners the Bible says. And it's not until we are in heaven that we aren't sinners.
So it's wise for people to be careful about what they share and who they share it with, even if the person they are considering sharing details with is a Christian. It helps protect from unhelpful and sometimes relationally damaging judgement and gossip from happening.
I've heard someone say that sharing every detail with others helps others and the community realize that life and people are not perfect. They hear not perfect things in other people's life and therefore know that they are okay--bad things happen to everyone. However, there are many other ways to see and know that the world is not perfect. It doesn't have to come through "over-sharing."
We can still trust people and other Christians--it's just that trust should grow over time. Just like trusting people with job responsibilities. You trust them with little, and how they take care of little determines if you can trust them with more. And the nature of time is that we only have time to invest deeply in a small amount of relationships, so we don't have the time to develop deep relationships with everyone. Just because two people are Christians doesn't mean they automatically or will eventually be best friends. Each person is created with unique likes and a unique personality.
Monday, September 22, 2014
A Rational View of Ourselves
Often it is easy in life to judge ourselves by an easier standard than we judge others by. I did this or that because I was tired. Or I acted poorly for this or that reason.
But when someone else acts poorly we never allow for mitigating circumstances. It is often that we judge ourselves by an easier standard than others. We always give ourselves the benefit of the doubt.
The bible tells us that we will be judged by the standard with which we judge. We should always strive to judge others more gently than we judge ourselves. Because our sinful hearts will often cause us to undervalue our fault in things.
It is always easy for us to see why we are at less fault than others think and very hard for us to imagine why others may be at less fault than we think. Our nature is quick to defend ourselves. It is what makes progress in the Christian life so hard.
You see we cannot do better if we refuse to see how we are wrong. If how we are wrong is always a lack of sleep or not a good breakfast or a bad day at work than we will never grow. You see if we sleep more, have a good breakfast, and a good day at work then it will become a bad commute or an unexpected bill.
There is always something to blame other than ourselves! It takes great humility to simply accept that when we fail there is something beyond the mitigating factors which causes our failure. Yes the poor sleep or bad traffic did not help but they are only part of the explanation and the least helpful part.
But when someone else acts poorly we never allow for mitigating circumstances. It is often that we judge ourselves by an easier standard than others. We always give ourselves the benefit of the doubt.
The bible tells us that we will be judged by the standard with which we judge. We should always strive to judge others more gently than we judge ourselves. Because our sinful hearts will often cause us to undervalue our fault in things.
It is always easy for us to see why we are at less fault than others think and very hard for us to imagine why others may be at less fault than we think. Our nature is quick to defend ourselves. It is what makes progress in the Christian life so hard.
You see we cannot do better if we refuse to see how we are wrong. If how we are wrong is always a lack of sleep or not a good breakfast or a bad day at work than we will never grow. You see if we sleep more, have a good breakfast, and a good day at work then it will become a bad commute or an unexpected bill.
There is always something to blame other than ourselves! It takes great humility to simply accept that when we fail there is something beyond the mitigating factors which causes our failure. Yes the poor sleep or bad traffic did not help but they are only part of the explanation and the least helpful part.
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