Judger

Today's Reading: Psalm 96- 98; Acts 17:1-15

“Worship the LORD in the splendor of [His] holiness; tremble before Him, all the earth. Say among the nations: ‘The LORD reigns. The world is firmly established; it cannot be shaken. He judges the peoples fairly.’ Let the heavens be glad and the earth rejoice; let the sea and all that fills it resound. Let the fields and everything in them exult. Then all the trees of the forest will shout for joy before the LORD, for He is coming—for He is coming to judge the earth. He will judge the world with righteousness and the peoples with His faithfulness” (Psalm 96:9-13 HCSB).

I often like to play the judge. A part of me seems to think that I know best. I look at a person, see a lack of fruit in their life (see Galatians 5) and decide that they must not be a Christian. I’m so wrong in doing this. I can’t see the heart of a person, only God can. As today’s verses remind us, God is the ultimate judge. He is the all-powerful and almighty One who looks into the hearts of all men and women and fairly judges them.
This morning I was once again humbled. I was once again brought to my knees as I realized how wrongly I had judged someone. This person was someone I hardly knew, but I had assumed some false things about. I should know by now that first impressions are often wrong, enough people have made wrong first impressions about me for me to know. Just the same, I looked, I judged, and I neglected to actually reach out and get to know the person.
Once again I was humbled. Once again I was amazed by the great forgiveness God gives me each and every day as I live out this imperfect life. I’m so thankful for the God I serve. He’s so amazing.

What about you? Have you ever made a judgment about someone, only to be proven wrong?

Lord, please help me to leave the judging up to you, but instead learn to more easily love those around me, without making stereotypes or inaccurate assumptions on those around me.