Don't Judge Me Dude!

Over the past several years, it has become apparent to me how much people fear being judged. I have to say I can sure understand that fear, or I did at one time. Sure, it still bothers me when I feel judged by people. Especially those whose opinions I respect. But the bottom line is God is the only judge we need to worry about.

As God has slowly and surely cleansed me of my judgmental thoughts towards others, I have gained a much higher awareness when I see judgment in action. In the words of Joyce Meyers, “I am not where I want to be but thank God I am not where I used to be.” When there is a lack of God in our lives, we try to be the god of our lives. So we take on His attributes. One of those is being the judge of who is in and who is out of our private world of acceptance. Just as we do to others, they do to us. This world has become one giant judgment after another. A fear of being judged with a lack of knowing who we are in Christ leads us to some pretty unpleasant places.

Just about everyone in our society wants to be accepted. All of us have a fear of being judged and being excluded from favor from one group or another. This quest to be accepted drives much of how we live our lives. There are two ways to be accepted. One can either perform at or above the level expected. We see this when people seek certain tightly controlled certifications. There is a test and if you don’t make at least a specific score, you don’t get in. In this case, the bar is set and not lowered. This ensures that the groups standards will not be compromised and the standing of that certification will not lose value.

The other method is to try to get the standards lowered to bring people in who can’t make the existing standard. Instead of seeking to live their lives up to the standards of society, many people spend a great deal of time and energy trying to get the standard lowered to their level so they can be accepted. Consider what would happen if, in the first example here, the test scores were lowered to make sure that a certain percent of the test takers passed. It greatly devalues the accomplishment as well as de-motivates the people who worked hard to achieve a passing grade before the standards were lowered.

As our society becomes more and more polarized, we can expect the attempts to lower the standards in society further and further to continue and possibly become more numerous. Without any true definition and lasting standard for society, we will continue our moral decline. When the godly people don’t stand up, the godless will get their way. Stand up for our standards. Vote for the best candidate even if they are not your ideal candidate. Our silence will be our demise.