Lessons From Mere Christianity: Judging Others

This is a post from my series called "Lessons From Mere Christianity."

From my experience and from my own life, it is very easy to fall into the habit of judging others. For me, whenever I see someone do something wrong, or do something that I disapprove of, or even say something that I disapprove of (such as the f word!), my first reaction is to judge them, and I have to work really hard not to.

We are told specifically not to judge, lest we be judged. CS Lewis gives us one reason why we need to follow this rule:

"That is why Christians are told not to judge. We see only the result;s which a man's choices make out of his raw material. But God does not judge him on the raw material at all, but on what he has done with it." (91)

When we judge others, we judge them as if everyone has had the same upbringing and the same experiences as we have had. That is not the case. We do not know what they have gone through, and Lewis says this is just another reason why we should not judge them.

Now, you may think I am slowly broaching relativism, but I assure you this is not the case. A bad thing is a bad thing is a bad thing - however, it is senseless, counterproductive, and unholy to judge the person for the bad thing they are doing. As the saying goes, hate the sin but love the sinner.

When we judge someone, we do not love them. Indeed, think of someone that made a bad first impression, and you instantly judged them based on that. How hard is it for you to change that first impression that you have? By judging, we do not even really give them a chance.

Be on guard. It is so easy to judge someone in your mind, you must actively fight it and pray for the ability not to judge. If you are able to reach that point, to not judge and simply love others as they are, then how much more joyful our lives would be and how much more we could lift up those around us.