Please Stand for the Honorary Judge Regier

Please stand for the honorary Judge Regier. Sometimes I feel that is what I hear when I begin to judge others. Do I really think that I have the right to judge others on their appearance and their ideals without even knowing anything about them? I don’t. Why do I always think that I can judge someone by just looking at them or by talking with them for the first time? Well, because I am human. But does that excuse me from doing it? No. The whole world judged a particular person a few weeks ago, Susan Boyle. By the appearance she had and the comments she made, the world probably thought, “This lady will by x’d off stage in no time and maybe even laughed off.” But then she sang. The world stood still, and even the unthinkable happened, Simon Cowell smiled. The world still awaits the final outcome of Susan Boyle, but even if she doesn’t win, she has won in the hearts of many across this planet.

We so often judge on appearance, what people wear, what their hair looks like, what style of music they listen to, what they watch, and the list can go on and on and on. But do we know them? Do we truly know the reasons why they dress the way they do? If you don’t then you best stop judgin’. If you do, then you best have the best intentions for helping them if you are judgin’. We think we can do a better job at being the Mayor or Pastor or Governor or Senator or even President, but you know what, says who? You. What makes you more qualified? I love the way that Eugene Peterson writes Matthew 7:1-5 in The Message: “Don’t pick on people, jump on their failures, criticize their faults— unless, of course, you want the same treatment. That critical spirit has a way of boomeranging. It’s easy to see a smudge on your neighbor’s face and be oblivious to the ugly sneer on your own. Do you have the nerve to say, ‘Let me wash your face for you,’ when your own face is distorted by contempt? It’s this whole traveling road-show mentality all over again, playing a holier-than-thou part instead of just living your part. Wipe that ugly sneer off your own face, and you might be fit to offer a washcloth to your neighbor.”

We should check ourselves before we check someone else. What makes us more qualified than the next person? What makes our lives better than the person down the street? What makes our reasons for dressing the way we do better than the other person? If it lies in your opinion or even your own standards or ethics, then it still isn’t right. We aren’t supposed to judge others to make ourselves feel or look better, we are supposed to judge others to help them with their walk with God. We have their best interests above ours. If all of us would do that, then racism, prejudices, hatred, and fear would no longer be issues.

There are a lot of Susan Boyles out there, people who look and act a little or maybe a lot differently than we do. But you may not know the story behind it, and don’t judge until you do. Don’t judge until you have put their interests above your own.