Judge or not to Judge?

You, then, why do you judge your brother or sister? Or why do you treat them with contempt? For we will all stand before God’s judgment seat. It is written:

“‘As surely as I live,’ says the Lord,
‘every knee will bow before me;
    every tongue will acknowledge God.’”

So then, each of us will give an account of ourselves to God. Therefore let us stop passing judgment on one another. Instead, make up your mind not to put any stumbling block or obstacle in the way of a brother or sister.

Romans 14: 10-13

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Passing judgement is one of the easiest, sneakiest and passive way to cause division and quarrels amongst each other. We create judgement without the other person knowing and without looking within ourselves. Judgement seems more prevalent these days whether it's in politics, in the media or even within our communities--church, work or school. In verse 13 where it says, "make up your mind now to put any stumbling block or obstacle in the way (v. 13)," it reminded that we need to take captive of our thoughts daily. Our hearts and our minds can be so deceiving and fickle. We have a choice of how we want to think, speak and even treat someone whether they know it or not. I know I'm guilty of choosing to pass judgement while not looking at the plank in my own eye. If we could put aside our pride and humble ourselves to get to know, to understand the deeper parts of that person we'll see how broken we all are and not so different from each other. If we all had this kind of mindset and woke up every morning asking ourselves how can I choose to love rather than judge it was cause a paradigm shift in every facet of our lives. 

As for myself, I'm not only challenged to take account of myself and reminding to ask myself daily, "how am I choosing to see people today?" For I know I'm not worthy to be loved and deserve judgement but I'm saved by grace by the One who chose to love me in light of all my weaknesses and flaws.