Lately one of the many things that I have been working on is not to judge people. I have a tendency not to be really compassionate nor tolerant of some people. Yesterday in class we read 1Tim. 6:17-18 which says "Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. Command them do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing." This verse brought back memories from a time in my life when I was feeling like I was always being judged.
You see since the summer of my Sopohomore year until the Summer before my freshman year in college I played summer ball. It is very competitive and every weekend we played in tournaments including Sundays. Many people from church mad me feel like a bad christian. The times that I was able to go to church instead of being loved and encouraged I was told that I am letting softball come between me and God. However, this is the time that I really developed a relationship with God. My first year playing summer ball I really learned the importance of having quite time with God. I had to develop a deeper relationship with my Father. Now even though I am still working on this I am blessed that I learned the importance of this before I came to college.
Also through the years I learned that God really does want you to use the talents you have for Him. God blessed me with some (but very little) athletic ability. I quickly learned that he used this ability to put me in a "mission field" so to speak. I was around a group of 11 girls plus their families all summer. My family and I had the chance to show these people Christ through our actions. If I had said "sorry I can not play until I attend church" it would have been a major turn off. They would have taken it as you think your better than me (this is just how I felt when people "contemned" me from not attending church services).
The last year I played ball was really eye opening. I had one coach who was an alcoholic (with many other problems as well) and another one who was a recovering drug addict (like became clean 2 months before ball started) HELLO this was my time to show them Gods love. My dad develop a relationship with the first coach and even though things did not end picture perfectly I know that my dad planted a seed in his life. I grew close to the other coach and the same thing happened even though I did not see the end result I know that I influenced her and showed Christ love to her. It is funny how when you spend time with people everyday all day (well except for mondays :) ) how people begin to pick up on your habits. God had a way of reminding me of this when I had a struggled with living for him. My favorite story of this is at the beginning of the season my last year to play ball we went and ate lunch together (a common occurrence since we all had to be back at the park at the same time). I was one of the only ones who got napkins so I passed them out. Of course I got made fun of for the whole year but by the end of the year many others developed better table manners. Even though this has nothing to do with Christ it reminded me of how easily an impression is left on people. I prayed and still pray that people will see God in me and that I used my talent to glorify God.
I said all this because I think that it helps me look at my judging problem in a different way. I need to love and encourage people and try to understand the situation that they are in. God gives us different talents and personalities for different reasons. I need to be more tolerant and instead of doing the "condemning" encourage people to use their riches for God. I know that I really appreciated the people that encouraged me to keep with softball and not let these people stop me. I just wish I had more people loving me and understanding my situation instead of judging me as a "weak" Christian. After all, God calls us to leave the judging to Him and the loving and encouragement to us.