JURY DUTY

My husband is s-o-o-o-o-o-o-o excited. He received a notice that he has been selected to be on a jury. He is to call Monday to see if he has to show up on Tuesday, but he sure hopes he gets picked. Yes, he is excited.

Okay. He is not! He does not want to be on the jury. And isn’t that the reaction of most of us?

We don’t want to do that. We don’t want to listen to lawyers. We don’t want to listen to facts. Honestly, most of the time our minds are made up as soon as we see the defendant and hear the charges.

Funny how we don’t want to be on a jury because we don’t want to have to “judge” another person, but we do it daily. We are not sitting on a jury. We just judge others.

The “WE” here means all of us! Even if we try, we judge people we meet.

We judge by their clothing, the way they talk, how they eat and how their children behave. We judge by the number of tattoos and the length of hair. We judge by what church they attend, what political party they belong to and what team they root for. We judge by how they keep their yard mowed and how loud they play their music. We judge ---

Darn. God just gave me a whack on the head with that 2 X 4 he keeps handy. It has my name engraved on it and the imprint of my forehead from being used so many times.

God asked, “So this is how you judge my children? By what they wear and what team they want to win the Super Bowl? Goodness, girl. What are you thinking? Go back and look at that list. And you know it is only the tip of the iceberg. You judge people on way more than you put down here.”

God continued, “Did you look at that list? Now - name one thing on there that is so important that you should judge someone on it. How they talk? I will give you that one if they are using my name in vain, but if you are just considering bad grammar or a strange accent - not important! Length of their hair? I assume you are talking about my male children. Mary, have you any idea how long Jesus’ hair was? Do you think I cared?”

Knowing He was not done, I prepared for the next whack and I received one. Getting my attention, God said, “MARY, YOU ARE NOT TO JUDGE!”

Then God softly said, “Judging - my Son and I have that under control. You are to love.”

SCRIPTURES

Say among the nations, “The Lord reigns. The world is firmly established, it cannot be moved: he will judge the peoples with equity. Psalm 96:10

This will take place on the day when God will judge men’s secrets through Jesus Christ, as my gospel declares. Romans 2:16

There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the one who is able to save and destroy. But you -- who are you to judge your neighbor? James 4:12

AND NOW

We all judge. The bottom line is that we shouldn’t.  We judge on the wrong things.  God judges fairly and uses a much better measuring stick!

LET US PRAY (Please use this as a beginning of your prayer. Finish in your own words, words from your heart.)

Dear Lord, Take away my judgmental attitude. Amen