Judge not

A whole new meaning to Jesus’ admonition, “Judge not,” has been coming to my view.

In the past, I’ve associated it as instruction to not think critically of others. But I’m seeing there’s a whole lot more to it.

What about mundane observations of others like, “He is short. She is tall. He is overweight. She is loud. That man is old. That person is poor. That teen looks suspicious.” and on and on and on…?

After studying the Sermon on the Mount recently and seeing that every instruction, obeyed, in that Sermon, takes one’s thought to the perfect child of God, Jesus’ instruction to “Judge not,” has new relevance for me. It means more than not thinking critically of others. It means to never render a mortal judgment against a friend, neighbor or stranger.

Any type of material evaluation of another is going to be off. God did not create mortals. God, infinite Spirit, created immortals.

To see our neighbors aright, we cannot size them up according to mortal outline. And that is what we do when we take note of physicality and mortality.

To pursue this idea further, I asked myself, "From the vantage point of loving another, what difference does it make if someone is tall or short, fat or skinny?" I concluded that it only makes a difference to us if we think it makes a difference.

The effect is similar to racism. In the eyes of God, race does not matter. We’re all one in Love. But to the racist, race matters because, in his error, he thinks color of skin rates people in degrees of worth and value.

To the materialist, size, shape, form, and action of the material body matters. So, whenever the materially minded looks at another, he or she starts evaluating that person from a physical point of view. And it’s all error.

Man is not physical. He is spiritual. We’re all God’s image, made in the likeness of Spirit.

To correctly know our neighbor, we have to reason out from Spirit about them, never from matter.

It seems to me that the spirit of “Judge not,” is to judge spiritually.

We can do this before we meet our neighbor. We can hold the right idea of God before personal encounters. Then, when we meet for the first time, or the umpteenth time, we won’t be tempted to observe physicality to know what is true about our acquantaince. We’ll already know what is true in thought, and we'll see more evidence of it outwardly. The picture obtained from Spirit is always good.

In Spirit, man is not fat or skinny, old or young, short or tall. God’s man and woman are defined by spiritual qualities radiating from Soul. God’s image is abounding with wisdom, love, joy, cheer, order, peace and harmony.

Hmmm…it seems like a tall order to judge spiritually and only spiritually as one walks down the street, shops at stores, mingles in large crowds, or watches hundreds of images on TV. But it’s what Jesus expected, and knew from experience brings the best healing results.

Judge not! Judge not your neighbor from a material point of view. You will not find him or her there. Our neighbor lives in Spirit, exists as God’s image, and is a beautiful picture to behold.

God is the judge, and God has already rendered a verdict on the worth and value of everyone. And it’s very positive!

You are wonderful, and so is your neighbor.

Happy day…