"We cannot judge ourselves by ourselves or by anyone else; there is always one
fact more in every one's life that we do not know." -Oswald ChambersI've always truly wanted to get a total grip on this truth. But for some reason it is the easiest thing to fall into, and the hardest thing to overcome - looking at others and their circumstances and making judgments based only on my own life experiences and limited knowledge.
"It's so easy to condemn a state of things we know nothing about while we make excuses for the condition of things we ourselves live in." Oswald Chambers
I'm certain that God gives me the gift of discernment about some people and some situations not to judge them but to pray for them or to serve them. Yet, I still take this spiritual gift and use it in my own human capacity for my own self-aggrandizement - and I lose the potential for the blessing and the potential of the gift that has spiritual significance for the greater good. Does anyone else struggle with judgment and how have you overcome?
5 comments:
wow, this seems to be a theme for me today -
I've been thinking about judgment/evaluation/comparison/being compared and comparing, etc it's all a form of judgment. Even compliments are judgment, in that if one's work is deemed 'good' then another may not be as good (especially important for me to keep in mind when teaching)... it's not easy for this puny human brain to reign that practice in, but a practice it is. Continually reminding myself that what is, simply IS, takes the judgment away. Remembering that my trials, experiences as a victim, what other's may look upon as bad, have taught me so much - from forgiveness to the vastness of my own inner strength. What appears to come easy to another may have come from years of not so easy; what seems unthinkable in another may have come from experiencing the unthinkable; and so on. I am not a mind reader and I only know another by what they choose to tell me from their story - I can't even know the full truth of their part of a story we seem to have experienced together, because they lived their part, and I mine. It isn't easy... I touch on similar issues today. there must be something in the air, or stars, or that great big shared consciousness :)
Oh yeah. Me too. Currently though, I think it's the watchdog or mama bear in me over my kids. My radar is in over drive when it has anything to do with their school, teachers, friends, friends families, tv shows, movies, books - you name it. So I guess I'm excusing myself from feeling bad about it since it serves a purpose in keeping watch over them.
Hey - where is your castle?
Hey Kimmie,
thanks for reminding me- i had edited my castle posts by adding some tags and didn't put it back!
This is a very deep post and has me thinking again about my own struggles with this. We're all such totally self-centered people really. Thankfully God knew this and sent Jesus to be our Savior and the Holy Spirit to teach us and guide us.
Were you reading a particular book by C. S. Lewis that these quotes are from?
This has been a topic very close to me the past few months. Like the figurative fist between the eyes, I awoke one day to this truth: Judgment is not a spiritual gift given to me by God; discernment is.
Do you detect there is a fine line between the two? I do, yet, in the moment of my enlightenment, it was perfectly clear to me.
I like Oswald Chambers -- no, change that to I love his writings! He takes me deeper into my thoughts and expands on truth just a bit more.
Do I still judge, and does the process stymie me some? Oh yeah... but I catch myself now. And that gives me hope that someday I'll get it.
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