Judging is hard, and I catch myself doing it way too often. God’s working on me, and I’m trying, but I wonder… Am I the only one who struggles this much with it, or is this a general thing that comes with being human?

I host a middle school girls’ bible study at my home once a week. We are currently studying the book of James. Last night we were discussing James 3:17 – But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit; impartial and sincere.

Until this moment, I would not have tied this verse in James to the verse Jodie wrote about, but God must want me to see something here. Our discussion last night out of James had to do with Mercy and gentleness toward others, even when the situations some people find themselves in are of their own making. We found many different examples to discuss from the girls’ lives and even talked about some bigger worldly ones. We talked about how regardless; we must give Mercy and love. This isn’t to say that people shouldn’t have some accountability, but they should receive Mercy. At first the girls weren’t buying into this thought until we looked at God’s love for us and how undeserving we are of the Mercy and love he gives us.

As an additional thought, we also talked about some of the judging we do without knowing the whole story. One girl honestly shared that sometimes she gets mad when she sees a homeless person begging for money because they “should just get a job.” We discussed how some homeless people may have gotten themselves into that situation, but how there are many hard working people who just have a bad situation happen. We don’t know the whole story and it is not for us to judge. How often do we find ourselves doing it though?