Stop judging others.

Luke 6:37 “Stop judging others, and you will not be judged. Stop criticizing others, or it will all come back on you. If you forgive others, you will be forgiven.”

If there is any one verse of Scripture that we mess up the most, it is probably this one. No matter how hard we try, we just can't seem to stop it. We judge and criticize others a lot. We seem to take delight in downing others for what they do wrong. Some of us are a lot better at it than others, but we all find ourselves doing it. We always want to make ourselves look better than others are, and judging and criticizing are the easiest ways to do it. Jesus warns us that when we do it, it all will come back to us. In other words, we will always find ourselves on someone else's agenda to down. Others can find fault with us just as easily as we can with others.

 It's a vicious circle we get ourselves into. Jesus tells us a much better way to deal with each other. We must learn to exercise grace towards each other when we mess up. Instead of getting on their case, we need to forgive them and move on. We know we all mess up; just accept the fact and don't make a big deal out of it. When we take the high road and forgive one another, God then exercises grace towards us and forgives us. Instead of strife, we now have peace.

Really, there is no other way to have peace with God and one another. We need to learn how to forgive and be forgiven. And the only way to really learn how to be forgiving towards others is to just do it. Don't make a big production over others' mess ups. Back off, let it go, forgive and move on. With practice, you actually can become pretty good at it.