We're Supposed to Judge, but How Much is Too Much?

Throughout my life I have had a real struggle with judging. I am a fashion fanatic as well as a perfectionist and I will admit, there are times when I look at a person I don't even know and think things like, "bad outfit choice" etc. I realize this is a problem. I also realize I am not a perfect person. However, because the whole "judging a book by its cover thing" is something I constantly do, I figured I've got enough background in this area to tackle this often frustrating topic.

How much judging is too much? Let's start with this question. I have often told my friends that within just 5 minutes of meeting someone I can determine if we will be friends or not... Yeah that's just crap. (Please excuse my lack for a better term) People have so much more to them than you can meet in 5, 10, even 2,000 minutes. I continue to learn new things about friends that I have had for years and years. So can we really judge someone after 5 minutes of meeting them? Absolutely not.

I realize that as humans we are programmed to judge things, in fact we are here to judge good from evil and exercise our agency. However, I do not think that this type of judging applies to the people we have just met.

Story time: I knew a girl in high school. (yeah it's one of those stories...) I thought she had absolutely everything!! Her family rocked, she got good grades, she was popular and beautiful. In my mind she was perfect. I made that judgement until I really got to know her and then I learned about all of these personal problems she struggled with that I had no clue about! I learned a great lesson from this. No matter how great someone's got it going on the outside, you never know what they've got going on the inside.

I guess my point in telling you all of this is to teach a lesson that I am still constantly learning for myself. We never know what someone is going through. We just don't know. So stop judging. Just stop it. It is our Heavenly Father's job to judge, not ours. (See the link for the full beautiful version of this: The Merciful Obtain Mercy)

Lastly, there is the scripture that talks about the way in which we judge will be how we are judged. How terrifying a thought that must be for someone like me who is so judgmental! Ah!! I don't know about you but as I sure as heck need the easiest judging possible considering the crazy amount of mistakes I make!
So here's to giving the benefit of the doubt and letting God be the judge.

Happy Wednesday everyone!!