Judging, a personal experience…

It’s been a little over a year and a half since my little family and I took the proverbial leap of faith and sold our house, gave away much of our belongings, and set sail to the Pacific Northwest.

To be honest, and Janell can testify to this, a few years back if you were to ask if we would ever move up here it would have been a very arrogant no.

From a spiritual standpoint, I viewed the PNW as bankrupt, full of compromise and deception and I judged them heavily for watering down the gospel (pendulum swings both ways but that’s for another time). This may sound crazy, but when Janell and I married. I thought I was saving her by getting her out of there/here. I was so arrogant.

To make a long story short, however, I would get knocked off my pedestal and humbled beyond my wildest dreams. From judging those around me, both sinner and saint, God would show me how He truly sees me and in turn, I would see others with the same eyes. This actually prepared my heart for moving here.

What’s the reason I am telling you this?

I am saying this because of what I had heard and the other environment I was a part of, I had this preconceived idea of the kind of people who lived here. I declared judgment and from there I was bearing false witness to others.

It’s really easy to fall into this trap. I work construction as a lineman. I’ll never forget my instructor when I was an apprentice say these words

“Simmons, you have a telegraph, telephone, and a tele-lineman.”

He told me to never fall into the third one because once you do it’s hard to get out. What he was saying is that people like to talk and what they will talk about isn’t the good things but for the most part it will be the bad things. This is so true even on a spiritual level.

Even today as I sat with a brother of mine at his office, might as well be my brother because when we first started going to our church people thought we were LITERALLY BROTHERS. It’s like the most subtle rebuke possible on a daily basis because when I sat there and we literally just talked for like two hours it just reminds me how off and spiritually arrogant I was. All the while I am thankful that God was ever so patient through all my “spiritual stupidity”…. because in all reality before I was even here, this man was already under my judgment three years ago.

Puts things into perspective when you really sit down and think about it eh? Be discerning about the things you say about others. And how you view them

I pray this blesses as well as challenges you as it does me… practically every day

John