God Wants You To See Others As He Does… Hello weekend readers. Thanks for sharing your thoughts with me about Zero Discrimination Day. However, I had one person who I deeply know and love threw me under the bus saying: “Homosexuals are heading straight for the Flames because they are unrepentant in their sin. Baby butcherers are headed straight for the Flames because they are unrepentant in their sin. False prophets are going to get it worse than either of those two.” I almost threw-up; this was so ugly, so damning and completely out of character. Whoever put this in his mind doesn’t know God. My heart is still reeling with this rhetoric. I did get back to my friend, gently but also with God’s words. So, what am I musing on today? God wants you and me to see others as he does. And right on time, there were 4 historical stories from my weekly Smithsonian—Oh I so like the Smith…here goes on of them:

William Jennings Bryan, Secretary of State in Woodrow Wilson’s Cabinet, was interviewing a man who was seeking the diplomatic post in China. Bryan was known for the high standards he had for diplomats, after all it was important for détente between two nations. You can guess it: the interview was very grueling. At one point, Bryan warned the applicant that it was necessary to qualify as a linguist. He said: “Do you speak Chinese?” The man was equal to the occasion knowing that Bryan was a tough man and a stickler, so he said: “Try me. You ask me something in Chinese.” The room went quiet; the two men came close over the desk, eye-to-eye staring, until Bryan winked and said, “you will be just the person I need to go to China.” The interview was over!

What caught my mind about this story is this: How often are the standards we apply to others don’t match the standards we apply to ourselves? How easily can we be critical of others’ mistakes, shortcomings, etc., yet we dismiss our own behaviors. What does God think of us when we do this, all the while judging others and using our words to define what we think these people are.

Jesus has something to say about this in Matthew 7:1-5 [The Message]: “Don’t pick on people, jump on their failures, criticize their faults—unless, of course, you want the same treatment. That critical spirit has a way of boomeranging. It’s easy to see a smudge on your neighbor’s face and be oblivious to the ugly sneer on your own. Do you have the nerve to say, ‘Let me wash your face for you,’ when your own face is distorted by contempt? It’s this whole traveling road-show mentality all over again, playing a holier-than-thou part instead of just living your part. Wipe that ugly sneer off your own face, and you might be fit to offer a washcloth to your neighbor.” 

Ok, we all have this problem don’t we…none of us wants to confess it, but we do. And in doing so, we harm other people. So is there a solution? Yes: It is NOT to stop making moral judgments, but to see those judgments in light of your own behavior! Instead of seeing others through the lenses of their worst moments, God wants us to give them the benefit of the doubt, taking into consideration how you’ve fallen short in your own life. It’s true that we think it’s OK to judge others for who they are and yet we make excuses for ourselves. Like the rant from my friend, I said “we all have sin and there is not one sin worse than another; we don’t get to judge and hurt others…SIN IS A LEVEL PLAYING GROUND!

So, can we try to be kind, to care and love? It is Jesus’ mandate for us all. God wants us to see others through God’s lens so we will have a heart of love and compassion. Put aside judgment and condemnation; be the loving child God wants you to be. I think that demands a hearty amen, don’t you? AMEN!