Judging Myself

Yea, I'm Christian. Yea, I love.

Yea, rite!

That's what I'd like to think, that I'm a good Christian. But oh no. I am so far from being 'good'. Reflection on my behavior has caused me to wince and cringe in embarrassment.

There was a particular acquaintance of mine who was extremely irritating - or rather, more accurately, I found him irritating. Every time he spoke, I was annoyed. Annoyed by his views and his comments. I thought to myself - You think you're such a hotshot perfect Christian? With the way you're behaving?

Of course, it applied to myself, but I didn't see it that way. I was too busy focusing on that speck of dust in his eye, without realizing that a huge freakin' plank was in my own. Scratch that. Not a plank. A huge piece of wood the size of gates of ancient city walls!

Then I got to know him better. We went out for dinner and stayed up quite late (for me!). I found that he's a pretty nice person, that all the antagonism and arrogance was actually a mask.

Then one day he asked me a question which really struck me, and revealed what lay beneath the mask. I felt so bad for disliking him because I let appearances and impressions affect the way I felt towards him!

Suffice to say, he wasn't irritating or arrogant. It was just me being a jerk.

I'm glad to say, though, that we're friends now.

So don't repeat what I did. Don't judge others or let other people's behavior control your own.

God taught me to look beneath the surface, to love others as God loves them no matter how they seem at first. Because even the (seemingly) most annoying person needs a friend; the most arrogant are the ones who need God's love and grace in their lives the most!