Judging, Judgment, Judgmentally!

I found this at  Desiring God by Abraham Piper:  Very insightful!

When we’re dealing with people who are different than us (everybody?) and trying to decide how to interpret the things about them that baffle us, we sometimes forget how fundamental beliefs are to the way we all act.  As Paul wrote “We also believe, and so we speak.”

Seth Godin points out that everyone has a tendency to misunderstand other people, because we don't pay attention to what they believe.  He notes that when you are dealing with someone “who is bitter, vindictive, loud and out to cost you your job,” it’s important to keep in mind that this probably does not stem from faulty judgment, but different beliefs.

He suggests that in these situations we should remind ourselves, “If I believed what [they] said when [they] wrote that angry blog post, I probably would have written the same thing.”

So before we judge others, accusing them of bad judgment, it's good to consider what beliefs are motivating them.  Then we can admit that if we believed like them we may very well have thought and acted that way, too.

This is humility, and it’s essential if we want to be compassionate (or even just tolerable to be around).  It keeps the focus on what really matters when relating to others: understanding what they believe, instead of judgmentally judging their judgment.