Judging!

Therefore you are inexcusable, O man, whoever you are who judge, for in whatever you judge another you condemn yourself; for you who judge practice the same things (Romans 2:1).

A father paced the bedroom floor while his daughter took what he thought was far too long to say good night to her boyfriend in the living room below. “I don’t see why it takes that young man so long to say good night. I don’t know about this younger generation!” he said. “Oh, come to bed,” his wife said. “Weren’t you young once?” “Yes, I was, and that’s just why I’m worried and can’t come to bed!” We may smile, but our smiling enables us to consider a very serious truth.

The overworried father’s statement expressed real insight into himself. His judgment of his daughter and her young man was based on his own memories of what he had done in living rooms a generation before. The problem was that he had projected these memories into worry in the present. His judgment did not fit the new situation but was based on his own concern.

Whenever we are overly critical, we should ask ourselves, “Why does that bother us?” There are some things which need to be questioned in loving concern for another person, but when our judgments are rash or emotional or severe, it often indicates that part of the problem is still within us. Hmmmmm!

Pastor Ken