Life Lessons: Judge Not!

Field of Vision : photo courtesy of NBC

It's so hard not to judge first and act later.  My first instinct too often determines how I react to a situation or how I look at a person.  Try as I might I know that it's true that I, like most, seem to judge harshly and forgive slowly.  As a preteen, I used to quote the Bible verse: "Judge not least ye be judged " to my older brother when he tried to correct my behavior.  Yep, I used the Bible to shame someone which I am pretty sure was not God's intent!  Blame it too much bible knowledge and not enough maturity.

Over the past few months, I've been working on changing my judging ways.  I'm trying harder to realize that too often my thoughts on people or things would be much different if I knew their circumstances first.  If I understood the "why" behind the ways, I would be less judging.

This was the discussion we had on Saturday night as we watched the Walmart Family Movie Night presentation of Field of Vision.  This is a story about a high school football star who has the courage to stand up against a good friend who is bullying the new kid in school.  We also discussed how we need to summon up that kind of courage when we see bullying/evil happening and don't want to say anything or rock the boat.  Standing back and not getting involved is not any better than actually committing the wrong.

VBS is this week at our church.  I was involved in pre-registration for the past few months so I was not planning on working much this week.  However, on Tuesday, I was asked to be a buddy to a little boy who was struggling with discipline issues.  Now, I'll admit I'm not a discipline expert or a child psychologist, but I have been a mother for fourteen years so I was willing to give it a try. 

Come to find out this little boy was prejudged.  He wasn't a discipline problem.  He was little boy who is hurting, afraid of loud noises (imagine 300 plus kids singing VBS songs), and just needed a little attention.  He's really a sweet little boy who now that he knows someone has his back and is really having fun at VBS. Yesterday, he even sang the songs and did the actions after a few moments sitting on my lap talking it through.

What a beautiful lesson about finding out "why" of a circumstance of a child who outwardly appeared to be a problem.  A lesson I'm hoping to learn myself as well as pass onto my children.  Everyone has "Stuff" that impacts how they behave and act. 

That's what we loved about the Family Movie: Field of Vision as it showed both sides of the story. You saw the perspective of the football star and "innocent" bystander along with the viewpoint of the boy who was bullied.  Not only did we get to sympathize with the victim, but you could understand why it would be easier to walk away and not get involved.  What a life lesson for our kids and me.   We need to look beyond the surface to really see the person and then to stand up for those we see who are suffering.  In the end, you'll never regret standing up for someone else.

How great it is that God always sees past the surface and sees us only as fully loved child.

Oh to have His Eyes.  Can you imagine that ?