Learn to judge rightly and embrace differences
" … First take the plank out of your own eye, then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's."
- Matthew 7:5 (NIV)
I have a friend who has a sleep pattern that many people think is unusual. She often gets a lot of criticism because she sleeps until late afternoon. People think she is lazy. But I know that's not true. I met this friend 40 years ago in nursing school and she has always had a tendency toward sleeping late.
In nursing, I learned about the circadian cycle in our brains. This cycle is an inborn rhythm each of us possess. It affects our sleep and wake patterns and is different for everyone. When someone gets jet lag, it's because they are functioning outside their normal circadian rhythm.
My friend learned how to use her normal circadian cycle for her advantage and went on to become a night nurse. I'm grateful people have differing sleep cycles, because we need day, evening and night workers. Now, I'm not saying everyone who sleeps late has a circadian cycle difference, but, in some cases, it's a possibility.
There's a lot that could be said about sleep patterns, but that's not what this article is about - I'm using this example to prove how we wrongly judge our differences. God has a purpose in creating and using our differences. That's why we need to watch our judgments of others.
Our human nature has a tendency to harshly judge anyone or anything different from ourselves. Yet, it's actually silly because God created diversity.
Jesus explained that we should judge what's good and evil. But he also explained that before we make a judgment of any kind, we better take a close look at the blind spots in our perceptions and perspectives first.
In his own words, "take the plank from your own eye" that is causing spiritual blindness and wrong judgments. It's greater than the problem with your brother.
Many times, we judge small, insignificant differences that are not sin, they are just differences. Before we start making judgments, we first need to pray, research and learn a few things for ourselves and about ourselves.
One thing is for sure, our world would be a much kinder place if we could learn to judge rightly and embrace our differences.
• Annettee Budzban is a Christian author, speaker, life coach and nurse. Annettee will be speaking at Libertyville Civic Center Saturday, July 28, at 1 p.m. Reserve your seat at annetteebudzban@aol.com or call (847) 543-8413, Visit www.annetteebudzban.com.