There have been many different experiences in my life that have helped to shape me into who I am today. Some of these experiences were pleasant, fun, uplifting and encouraging. Other experiences have been rather discouraging and depressing at times. Yet, other experiences have just been painful and heartbreaking leaving me with doubts about relationships and sometimes just how much God cares about me. I am sure you have also experienced many different things in your life that has left you with similar feelings of joy, strength, loneliness, despair, discouragement and doubt. Each of us has walked many miles in a pair of shoes and in that journey we have found our shoes would get broken in and become comfortable for awhile, but over time and a few long journey's the shoes became very broken down causing discomfort and pain because they were so worn. Shoes are not so much the subject of this message, but more on the experiences that go with the journey of the person that walked in the shoes and how we sometimes judge people by their actions, personality and habits based not on what we know about the person but more on what see at the moment.
I have been asked why I am so quiet and don't share much about myself or my family. I have been criticized for things that I do and the way I do them. I have been praised for other things I do that have helped others in some way, or for how I accomplish some task that was difficult. All of these remarks from other people were being based on their judgment of what they could see not so much of what they knew about me and why I do things the way I do or see things the way I see them. For instance, referring to my statement about being a quiet individual. When I was young and growing up into my teens our family life was not bad, but it was not exciting either. My dad worked at a mill and preferred staying on a swing shift schedule which meant he wasn't around during the school days. When he was home on the weekends he spent time in his garden or working in the garage building something. My dad found out he had some talent in painting pictures and pursued that somewhat. That was just one more thing he found to do on the weekends. We did some camping, not much though. We fished and hunted for a recreation, but this was all based on my dad's schedule. Now I am sure you are thinking what is wrong with that! I would say nothing overall, but when you would take a closer look you would find that we did not interact much as a family, so we kids just found ways to entertain ourselves. Life was like that for us growing up, that's just the way it was. What you need to realize is that these little experiences helped to shape our lives also. We learned to entertain ourselves without much interaction, this in turn, for myself at least, caused me to become a little introverted. This was just one step in my journey. When you begin to add several different experiences to your journey they all play a part in shaping who you are and how you do and see things. Here is where we begin our judging process. First of all, how we see and do things may not be how someone else sees or does things. Because of this we can count on one thing, we will be criticized or judged or we will do the criticizing or judging because we either do things differently than other's do or because we just don't see eye to eye on everything.
I do not share much about myself in this message because this message is not about me, it is about experiences that shape people into who they are today. The journey that one walks is their journey not yours and not mine. So the question is, how do you see your friends, relatives, neighbor's and co-workers? Do you see them as lonely, introverted, compassionate, encouraging, lazy, a leader or a follower, etc? If you had to describe one of your friends to someone else how would you describe them? What about one of your relatives? What are you basing your description on, what you see or what you know? Let me divert for just a moment and explain what I mean about seeing and knowing the other person. Seeing would be what you see the other person doing, looking at their actions or lack of actions and then either basing your opinion about them on that. Knowing the person would be getting inside their life and understanding them from where and how they were brought up and what their journey has been like not only in the far past but also in the very near present, then you base your opinion on knowledge of the person and not just what you see at the present moment. It happens way to many times, people will say something about someone else based on what they see the other person doing or not doing. Now I have to admit, I too have done these things, and if you are honest with yourself, you have too. We've judged the person on his or her actions by what we see not on what we know. We failed to look at the person through the eyes of Christ, the one who set them on their journey and laid out twists and curves they were to encounter along the way. We drew our conclusions of that person and labeled them a certain way by what we see them doing or not doing and not on why they may be acting or doing something in a manner that does not suit us or line up with our set of rules for living.
There are people that I know that are hard workers and go out of their way to accomplish not only their job but go beyond their job description to make someone else's job a little easier, only to turn around and criticize someone else for not doing as they do. I have seen this time and time again, people being criticized and judged based on their personality, work habits, and even their view of life. Once again I must interject here; This is not to say that we each should not try to improve ourselves in every way and not make excuses for ourselves when could be making changes. For instance, we can't just say this is the way I was raised and this is just who I am. Some of our life experiences may not have been the best but we do not have to let them totally define us, after all this is what the journey is all about, experiencing those challenges in life that are meant to shape us into who God wants us to become. God expects us to change and become more Christlike while on our journey. Of course, that depends on whether you are trusting Christ or not. So, here then is the problem, not only must we learn not to criticize or judge others on only what we see, we must also look at ourselves and see if we are making changes in our life. Judging others is not acceptable when you have not walked the miles in the one's shoes you and I are judging and if we ourselves have faults then how can we justify tearing down someone else in order to make them a better person? Just how worn are the shows of the one you just criticized? Have you felt the pain they may have been going through? Have you worked along side them when their bosses put high demands on them? Have you walked in their married life or family life and experienced the highs and lows, the stresses and discouragements they have? Where were you when the person that you say does not measure up today has felt the walls closing in on them this past week or month? Have you set along side them when a good friend, a family member or even a pet was losing their battle for life? No, you and I just draw our conclusions and judgements that they do not measure up to our standards of how the day should go for everyone. We failed to see the holes in the bottom of their shoes and not realize their journey has been less than pleasant these past days, weeks or months. Maybe the persons personality is not quite like yours or mine so we just judge them on how they act and not so much on how they feel or think at the moment.
Yes, the journey we are all on is a journey designed by God. He put us on a path that would have ups and downs, twists and turns that would shape and build us into the person He has in mind so we would be able to accomplish what he put us here on earth for. He knew what type of personality He wanted us to have, He knew the work ethics we needed to accomplish the task ahead of us. He knew the strength of character that would be needed and the type of personality we each would have to have in order to accomplish those things so we would be in the right place at the right time on our personal journey. He even provided the shoes that we needed to take this journey knowing that they would get scoffed, scared and worn through before the journey would come to and end. There must be a sadness in God's heart when someone else tells the person with the worn out shoes that their shoes aren't good enough. I wonder if we all took a good look at our own shoes would we find similar experiences that have helped shape our own lives into what they are today? I wonder if we would rather be encouraged by someone or criticized by someone for how we do things or how we feel today? Yes, we are all guilty of placing judgement on someone else and quick to criticize them when they don't abide by our set of rules on how to act and when and how to do things. Maybe we need to all consider the other person for a moment and ask ourselves this, "Have I experienced the same pain and heartache they have just experienced when they found out that those who he or she loves were criticizing and judging them behind their back?
We are all on a different journey, we all have different sizes and styles of shoes. How far have you walked in the other persons shoes you just criticized or judged? If you had walked in their shoes today would you be more compassionate and accepting of that individual and less judgmental and critical? When Christ looks down on us and smiles we get all excited and feel so blessed, but what about when He looks down on us and a tear runs down His cheek because He just felt a stab of pain coming from a critical person making critical remarks and judgmental accusations about one of His children. Let me share a few words from the Word of God concerning this matter. Take some time and read these scriptures, look them up and mark them in your bible. Remember them for they will be your guide when it comes to that critical statement you are about to make or that quick to judge attitude you have that will set someone else straight.
The Word of God has a lot to say about judging others. When we become critical we in essence are judging someone or something. When it, criticizing, is directed at another person it is a form of judging. Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary uses this definition when criticism is used in this manner; "Inclined to criticize or find fault; fastidious; captious; censorious; exacting." The words chosen are not words of uplifting and encouraging but of tearing down and fault finding.
The first scripture reference that comes to mind is probably one of the more popular ones regarding judging. Matthew 7:4-5 and Luke 6:42. Both referring that we first get the log out of our own eye before we try and remove the little speck out of someone else's. John 12:47 gives a good indication why Christ came into this world. He came to save the world, which meant that He would love the world that did not measure up to God's standards. John 3:17 carries this same message, Christ did not come into the world to condemn it but to save it. To me that means He did not criticize in a judging way to tear down an individual, He uplifted the person pointing out His love for them and how to return to God's Kingdom. In John 8:13-16 Jesus is answering the Pharisees about testifying as to who He is stating that He did not come to judge anyone. Now in James 4:11 we find words that get a little closer to home. James uses the word "criticize" in the New Living Translation, the NIV uses the the word "slander" and the King James Bible uses "evil" when speaking about another person in a critical or judging way.
Sometimes I find that the old rule should apply before speaking about someone to our friends and family, the old rule that says "If you can't say anything good about someone, then don't say anything at all." If we were to practice lifting people up by encouraging them in positive ways, somehow I believe that the world we live in would be a whole lot more peaceful. Don't we have enough to be concerned about on our own journey and the condition of the shoes that we are walking in than being so concerned about someone else's shoes and how new they are or how worn they have become. Walking in someone else's shoes can be a very uncomfortable and even painful experience, and unless you have walked in someone else's shoes, you will never know the experiences they have gone through while on their journey through this life. Might be best to wear your own shoes and stop judging the condition of someone else's.
I would like you to watch this short video clip that came out about five years age, it was shown at some church's and then became more widespread. It is found on youtube, called "Get Service." Watch to the end, you can skip the add. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LvVeSIEwbgk
I hope this message helps you to see people with another set of eyes, namely the eyes of Christ. You see, he doesn't view us how others do, He sees one of His children who He loves very much. So before you start off on a whirl wind of criticism today, take a moment before you speak and ask God if He would say the same thing you are about to say, good chance unless it is encouraging, He's not saying the things you are about to. Everyone is on a journey, some shoes are new and just learning their path while others have been on their path for some time now and their shoes may be scoffed up or even worn through with holes in them. So unless you have walked in those shoes, don't be critical, it's not worth it. May God bless you while you are on your journey through this life. May God be with you every step of the way!
