3 Questions to Ask Before You Judge Someone's Behavior

I deal with sinners up close and personal every day - so I've got some experience. OK, OK - my main experience with this issue comes from being a sinner myself. But this week I dealt with a situation in which one person was judging another person's behavior, pretty harshly, from a distance.

It made me think of a few questions to ask before we jump in the arena and start judging other people's behavior:

1. Do I know their story? There is always a back story to someone's behavior. Usually the more we know about a person's story, the more compassion overtakes judgment.
2. What would my reaction be if I liked them? Usually we judge people from a distance that we don't really care for. Replace the person you are judging with your best friend and see if your attitude doesn't change.
3. What if the sin they were struggling with was the same one I struggle with? Most of us tend to be fiercely forgiving of our own shortcomings. It's easy to judge someone who is a drug addict when you don't deal with drug addiction yourself. Imagine that their sin was your sin of choice and hopefully a little more patience will develop in you.