Judge Not

Have you ever had a friend that did something terrible?  Not just something dumb, but something really painful.  It makes you recoil that you even know a person that could do that.  Something that even made you question if you wanted to associate with them anymore.

That happened to me once.

Of course I was shocked initially, and did my part as a good friend of making it very clear that I was not happy with them.  But where do you go from there?  What do you do after that?  This one cut deep.

I didn't want to lose them, yet I wasn't sure I could stand to be with them either.  The tension quickly wound up in me.  I could feel it physically.  The day grated onward.  The fateful decision is in my hands.  Even that itself is destroying me.  I can't make it.  Help!

Yes, I have judged the terrible thing done to be wrong.  Rightfully so.  But can I take that as an example and judge them as a whole person?  Do they have any redeeming qualities?

Am I even supposed to be judging people like that?  

Finally, finally, less than a day later, God tells me what I need to do:  just be a good friend to them now.  The pressure evaporates.  Thank you!

God is the ultimate judge of the heart.  That is out of our hands.  We must not judge other people.  Though we can, and indeed must, judge people's individual actions, and at times let them know what we think of what they did.