Judging Others...

I'm guilty. I admit it. I've judged, and judged, and judged some more. When one gets married, the judging only increases except now there is a partner in crime who happens to be like minded. By God's grace, Caleb and I are constantly having truths about life exposed to us. The Holy Spirit continues to convict us of how we too are flawed and need to "remove the plank out of our own eye."

After social evenings, Caleb likes to have a cigar and process his more philosophical thoughts out loud to me. I try to keep my drowsiness at bay as I find his candidness both refreshing and interesting. I feel blessed that he always arrives at the mantra of our lives which is, we need Jesus. Everything in our life should point to Jesus and we should bring glory to him by the way we LOVE. It's too easy to fall into the trap of judging other couples when you're married, or engaged people, or how others choose to raise their kids. Caleb reminded me recently that we shouldn't spend our time discussing our opinions on the people in our life as soon as we're behind closed doors. We should simply aim to LOVE them, and love them well.

I doubt we could possibly muster the amount of grace it would take to coexist with others peacefully at all times. We need the Lord. Driscoll often preaches that there are open handed issues in the church (attire, alcohol, indie rock, etc) and there are closed handed issues (Jesus is God). The open handed issues are secondary and ultimately have the propensity to cause division. In our marriage, we have really learned a lot from two very mature and godly couples who do not push their agenda on others. They love, and let live- if I can rewrite the cliche a little bit! Caleb wisely informed me that we will never "arrive" as a couple, and we probably wouldn't even know if we were at that place where we feel our mentors are. He told me that, the scariest thing of all, is that we have judged people in our lives creating blinders to some of our own flaws. The matters that we are passionate about are for us, and we must fervantly strive to care for those subjects respectfully.

There is no one right way to do things. No perfect financial plan, dietary plan, parenting plan, or cadence for how to live. I am trying to adopt this ideology so that Jesus can be exemplified in my life. God knew that I would need a man who allowed the Holy Spirit to work in his life and therefore those changes in his heart would trickle down to me. It's really challenging for me to guard my tongue at times. Kymm in high school would drive the point home with people until they were either offended, or belittled, or both. I was by definition, a jerk with a big mouth.
I think my family expects that person, and by God's grace, my heart is being transformed. It may be a long bumpy road, but I am submitting my life to the authority of scripture and the counsel of my husband. I don't want my initial responses to my friends and family to be an adjudication of how they choose to live. I pray that the Lord strips me of a haughty disposition.

It's going to be a long journey...


~To Kendra & Josh...David & Michelle....thank you for being instrumental in our life!~