Hey friends! So good to see you here! I just want to say I really appreciate you reading what I have written. It really means alot to me. I HOPE I am true and accurate and I never lead someone astray. If I do…please call me out. 
Seriously. But, I do appreciate you.
The other day, I was talking to someone about church, christianity, etc. After talking to them, they informed me that they used to be a youth pastor. In the same breath without skipping a beat, he said not only did he stop being a youth pastor but he stopped going to church. I told him I hated to hear that and I asked him why. He stated he was tired of dealing with judgmental hypocrites. Well, you know what we have to do…let’s talk about it.
I grew up in a christian home and we went to church frequently but, at times, inconsistently. When we settled into a church home, I’m not going to lie, I did not like it. At the time, I was a kid and honestly had no say so in the decision of where to worship. You see, the church my parent’s settled on had a private school. I went to public school. I didn’t “fit in” because they all knew each other from school. And, honestly, they could be mean about what school I went to, what I was wearing, who I was wearing, what socioeconomic class we belonged to, why I didn’t know basic things about the Bible, etc.
Here is an example of my thought process. Hold up, hold up, hold up. This is CHURCH??! These kids are so mean! We are in the house of the Lord! What in the world??! That’s it! I hate church because EVERYONE HERE IS A HYPOCRITE!
Have you been there? Clearly, I have and by my conversation with a friend, they are there currently. In fact, this is the number one excuse I hear people say when you talk about christians and churches. I’m not going to lie, I felt this way for years. I didn’t go to church consistently until 12 years ago. So what changed? Did I find a perfect church with perfect people? Nope. Am I now suddenly perfect? Absolutely NOT! But did I change? Yep. I’ll explain.
“Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way as you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.” Matthew 7:1-5
Jesus’s point here does not mean we can’t judge, we just can’t be hypocritical about it. At the time when Jesus said this, there were religious leaders in the community who were GREAT at judging and not so great for holding themselves to the same standard they spoke of. They were judgmental.
But understand, there is a difference between being judgemental and judging. As Christians, we want our brothers and sisters in Christ to be the best they can be. We want those who don’t know Christ, to be their best and accept Him as their Lord and savior. So, it IS ok to hold people accountable for their actions and yes…we have to judge them in order to correct them. But this judgment comes from love and not pride or hate.
Judgmental attitudes stem from pride. Seeing someone struggle or make mistakes can make you think, “Whew! At least I’m better off than them!” Not cool. It’s that attitude that just ranked their sin. Where did your sin rank when you thought that??! Why do we feel the need to rank sins? Does it make us feel better in our own sinful behavior?
So what changed in me? I had to understand that we are all not perfect. We all sin because we live in a fallen world. You might sin differently than me but I still sin. And just because we sin differently doesn’t make me or you better than one another.
So this week, I want to work on 4 things if you see yourself as a the judger or the judgee (I know that’s not a word but it works! ) First, look inward at your own sins. Recognize where you fall short. Second, reflect on the reasons why they believe what they believe. Is it something you identify with? Third, realize no one has all the answers except God. So if there is a question about right and wrong, go to His word. Lastly, RESPECT other people, even if they reject God’s way. Yep. Do it. That doesn’t mean you agree or accept that behavior, but respect the person. I promise they are watching your behavior/response and they will remember it. You don’t want to be the hypocrite they remember.
Side note- if I have judged you (because I know, at times, I have fallen short in this category), I am sorry. Please know that when I write these motivations, I think about all the times I have been THAT hypocrite and it’s something I work on daily. Thank you for accepting me, faults and all.
Love you all,
Jennifer
That thought actually made me giggle a little when I wrote it…which is a PERFECT segway into today’s last topic. Laughter. So, let’s talk about it.
Fun fact about me (like you don’t know enough)! I laughed the whole way through my wedding ceremony. Yep. True story. When I think of my best friend Samantha, I can literally hear her laughter. Her laugh makes me laugh! Laughing makes me feel good. It brings me closer to the person I am laughing with. But have you ever thought about laughter from a christian aspect? I’ll be honest, I have never thought about it so let’s take a go at it!
