Being Christian - Not What You Would Expect

One of the hardest things for Christians to learn is not to judge others. It is a common human frailty to judge others, because in society we have laws, or rules which we are supposed to follow. I would hear my father, who was a wonderful father and a United Methodist Minister; say when a speeding motorist would “whoosh” by us on the road, “Boy, I wish I were a cop right now.” The inference was that he would turn on his squad lights, chase the vehicle and give its owner a ticket.

On a real level my father was judging the other motorist. I remember the year my father was driving, having received two speeding tickets himself (this also happened to me) within a calendar year, and being so careful NOT to receive one more moving violation or face suspension of his license.

Being very involved in the organizational aspect of my profession of dentistry there are what we refer to as “hot button items”. That is, issues that will touch an emotional response to forces that affect the profession itself. Some examples are “access to care”, “insurance industry concerns”, and “health care reform”, to name a few.

In society, if you follow the news, there are also “hot button items” such as, “sexual orientation issues”, “gay marriage”, “abortion”, “racial issues”, “immigration laws”, etc. These concerns and aspects of them change over time. Some will be at the forefront while others simmer and come to the surface, and all of them need to be addressed in our free society.

At any given moment we are ALL like my father who wanted to be free and “race” his own vehicle at speeds he wished to travel, or at times, being the “cop” who would stop another person from doing the same thing if he felt that the other person had “gone beyond the limit” of acceptable speeding behavior.

Jesus said, in Luke 6:37 (NIV), 37"Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven." When I hear a Christian judging someone else for “anything” (and, don’t get me wrong I am as guilty as anyone else), I cringe because I know there will be a non-Christian who says that we Christians should “not judge”. The non-Christian is absolutely right!

I always think at that point that it is “pretty nice” to be a non-Christian and not be held by the same standard, because the non-Christian is also judging.

This “judging” and “not judging” thing is a vicious cycle. Jesus talks about it a lot and the end result is always the same – “Don’t judge”. Being human, and therefore being prone to fail at this often, can be very frustrating. But Jesus gives us an “escape clause”. It is the third thing he says, which is often ignored in the passage, and that is to “forgive”. It is a tremendous freeing feeling to forgive someone else (and oneself, for that matter).

We can never be perfect, but we can strive to move toward perfection. We will fail and fall, but it is important to pick ourselves up and begin the walk again. It is so much easier if forgiveness is applied and practiced through this process, because it truly frees us to move forward in a positive, outward reaching and ultimately loving way.