Thoughts on Judgementalism

I have met a great many people whilst living on planet earth. Although there are many, many who I love, trust, and enjoy, there is not ONE with whom I agree whole heartedly. Being in relationship requires a certain amount of "majoring in the majors, and minoring in the minors", and at all times, making love your greatest aim. Does that mean that we should keep the peace at any cost and never risk confrontation? Not if we desire authenticity, and at times, not if we truly (with a heart full of love) want to warn a friend of heading into potentially dangerous territory.

Having said that, there are times when I have observed confrontation, and sensed the underlying attitude to be one of superiority, or fear. Fear that one's own belief system is being challenged. Fear that if we don't all think in the same way, that some of us will be horribly, dreadfully wrong- and that with dire consequences. There is a sense of urgency- that upon closer observation, appears to be clothed in impatience, irritation, and even anger.

Love, on the other hand, is patient and kind. Love withholds judgement. Love looks beyond the immediate, and searches for deeper meaning, different motivation. Love waits for an oppurtune time, a ripe moment when the Spirit whispers and one can speak into the life of the one you love, without the complication of a personal agenda. Love listens first, fully engaged, with both eyes and ears open. Love is just as interested in what the transgressor thinks and believes as they are passionate about their own belief.

A heart full of love breaks and aches at the thought of hurting another. Pain is not the intent, or the desire. There is no satisfaction in being right. There is humility in place of superiority.

When a person changes, or turns away from something destructive, I rarely hear of them commending the condemner, or crediting them with being the impetus for change. Again, I am not suggesting that we confront people, or urge them to pursue change so that we can later feel vindicated and appreciated. What I am suggesting is that true and lasting change instead grows from seeds of kindness, from a willingness to hear another as much as we desire to be heard, from a desire that was birthed out of a love that casts out fear.