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The Judging Epidemic: Please Drop Your Rocks

The Judging Epidemic: Please Drop Your Rocks

Last updated on: July 19, 2016 at 4:06 am by Guest Contributor

The Judging Epidemic: Please Drop Your Rocks 2016-07-18T15:52:58-06:00 Guest Contributor

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

This guest post was written by Belinda Croft.

rock

In a still moment, on the second floor of this building, I look out the window to the world around me. Life is happening. I feel a very tangible presence of God. It’s a gloriously tipsy feeling that hugs my body and my heart. It makes me smile. I am reminded of God’s desire and love for me. Always for me. Always kind. Always loving. It is the love that my heart has been longing for.

I am totally smitten with the creator of the universe. Not because I can bring much to the relationship, but because He loves me so perfectly. I can put the world on hold and it feels like it is only me and Him.

The weight of the rock

But amid this beauty I sense a heaviness within me–it is the weight of judgement rocks. The rocks we throw every day at others. Our perception. Our opinion. Our judgement. Watching the responses to the Orlando massacre, to the debate on transgender bathroom use, to the deaths of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile, and to the shootings of police officers in Dallas and Baton Rouge–my heart sinks as I process the pain our judgment often causes.

Maybe you’ve expressed your opinions in the form of little (or big), private (or very public) comments that you feel rising up within you. Maybe you’ve felt that you are in the best position to make a judgement call, to have a moment of “truth,” to speak out without knowing all the facts.

You collect a rock off the ground …

“There was a woman raped on the street. She was probably wearing a short skirt …” (rock thrown)

“There’s been a terrible accident on the highway–the car was being driven by a teen. He was probably drunk … and speeding.” (rock thrown)

“The woman with the gay kids. She’s probably done something sinful to cause that.” (rock thrown)

“The 22 year old woman, pregnant with no husband. What a tart. She’s probably just doing it for welfare benefits.” (rock thrown)

Is there a possibility I could be wrong?

Perhaps we should stop for a moment and think. “Maybe I’m wrong?” or “What if this hurts the other person?”

Every day we are given the opportunity to let go of our rocks of judgement and condemnation and walk in love and grace. Showing and operating in grace is a choice. A choice to show others Jesus’ love. A choice to not bomb them with a rock. A decision to drop the rock.

Thrown rocks do nothing–except hit a person. A person possibly already in enough pain. And if they aren’t in pain? Your rock is going to change that.

When there is a curve ball in your world

What do you do when:

You meet an asylum seeker in a detention center with a horror story of war and fear?
Two out of four of your children tell you they’re gay?
Your sister reveals details of her painful and distressing abortion?
Your best friend confides in you about their affair?
Your relative tells you they identify as transgender?

A real testimony

I have a transgender relative who shared this mini-testimony:

“I am broken. I have nothing to bring. I stand out condemned by the righteous and forsaken … but not by God. My true self is being expressed in the glowing freedom of God’s grace, compassion, and love. No more shame, no more condemnation, and a deeper awareness of His presence even through the difficulties of my transitioning experiences.”

Drop the rocks

As we partake of the beautiful opportunity to let our rocks fall to the ground, we are suddenly gifted with wonderful friendships and lines of communication with people who previously would have been cut off (whether we have said it out loud or thought it in our hearts) due to rock throwing sessions. Dropping our rocks changes our heart, attitude, perspective, and purpose.

Look out into the stillness, or into the busyness of life and be aware of His presence. His love will permeate your inmost being so tangibly–if you open yourself to it.

You won’t be able to do anything, but … drop the rock.

belinda-croft About Belinda Croft
Belinda has always enjoyed expressing herself. Her mediums have included dance, painting, writing, and performing for local theatre companies. In 2010 she was invited to write comment articles for Press Service International which culminated in her winning the “Basil Seller’s Australian Young Writer of the Year” in 2015. Her writing is now published at cinemafaith.com and periecho.com. Belinda lives on the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Australia.

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