I was at a coffee shop a few days ago scanning the newspaper when I came across a very unsettling headline that read the name of someone near and dear to me. Sadly, the article further described a crime investigation — painting a picture of a criminal while the picture I had of this person was quite the opposite.
Naturally, as I read further, thoughts began flooding my mind. I couldn't believe it... how could such a good person do such a bad thing?
But as I thought more, I realized that good people do bad things day in and day out. Whether or not someone does wrong is not what should garnish my definition of them because each and every person that walks this earth does wrong.
It is beyond easy to allow ourselves to reflect poorly on others simply based on their negative actions. More often than not, we do bad things because we are in a bad position. Humans have a sinful nature, and odds are each one of us has given into our temptations despite their defiance against our morals. It may not be easy to excuse and forgive terrible actions, but it becomes a whole lot easier when we make efforts to understand them.
Imagine if humanity did a complete 360 — if instead of showing one another judgment, we showed one another love. The world would be an entirely different place if we put in at least the slightest effort to stop comparing ourselves to others and only focused on lifting one another up despite our differences.
Truly, the only common ground we as humans share is that we are all different. We all have different backgrounds and origins. Our life stories will never be identical. We all have different strengths just as we all have different weaknesses. So, who are we to compare our weaknesses with one another?
Simply put, I will leave it up to God to discern our sin. By no means am I writing to say that we should all live a Miley Cyrus lifestyle and excuse our sin because 'only God can judge us.' What I am saying, though, is that God is our one and only judge and the only duty we have to others is to show them love.
