- Jul 13, 2004
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Jesus says the thing we need to do about ourselves is to renounce the presumptuous ambition to be God, by setting ourselves up as judges. That is what drives an overly critical attitude. A belief that I can see as God sees. I can see your motives. I can see the way you are thinking. I know all the things that have led you to this point in your life. But, of course, we do not know.
Human judgment is based on limited information and cannot be considered accurate.
The Indians had their way of saying this:
"Dont judge a man until youve walked a mile in his moccasins." At least that is a saying that is attributed to Indians, I have never seen a source for that quote and there is some reason to believe that no Indian ever said it.
Nevertheless, it is still a good message. We do not know what other people are going through. Perhaps if we did, instead of condemning them, we might marvel that they are as good as they are.
A newspaper reporter from a northern newspaper was once searching for a story about the laziness that supposedly existed throughout the South, when he saw a man out in a cornfield, sitting in a chair and hoeing his weeds. This he decided, was the ultimate in laziness. He rushed back to his car to get his camera for a photograph. But when he came back and began to focus his camera, he saw something different. He saw that the pants legs on the farmer hung down loose and that the man had no legs. So what seemed to be an article on laziness turned into an article on human courage and determination.
That little story shows the limits of human judgment. I Samuel 16:7 says, "Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart." That is why I do not sit in judgment on someone elses motives, because I do not know what their motives are, only the Lord knows.
Human judgment is based on limited information and cannot be considered accurate.
The Indians had their way of saying this:
"Dont judge a man until youve walked a mile in his moccasins." At least that is a saying that is attributed to Indians, I have never seen a source for that quote and there is some reason to believe that no Indian ever said it.
Nevertheless, it is still a good message. We do not know what other people are going through. Perhaps if we did, instead of condemning them, we might marvel that they are as good as they are.
A newspaper reporter from a northern newspaper was once searching for a story about the laziness that supposedly existed throughout the South, when he saw a man out in a cornfield, sitting in a chair and hoeing his weeds. This he decided, was the ultimate in laziness. He rushed back to his car to get his camera for a photograph. But when he came back and began to focus his camera, he saw something different. He saw that the pants legs on the farmer hung down loose and that the man had no legs. So what seemed to be an article on laziness turned into an article on human courage and determination.
That little story shows the limits of human judgment. I Samuel 16:7 says, "Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart." That is why I do not sit in judgment on someone elses motives, because I do not know what their motives are, only the Lord knows.
