I judge people. Often. It’s become so clear to me, now that I’m going into a transition that is quite often looked down upon in our society: moving back in with my parents.

I am my own worst critic. I have very high standards for myself (or so I’ve been told) and I despair when I fail to meet them. But I thought this “little problem” only hurt me, not others. How could it possibly hurt them? It’s all in my head. It’s all about me judging myself. It’s not about anyone else. Right?

Right?

The fact is, when we have standards (any kind – high or low) we tend to apply them universally, whether we realize it or not. This is where we get thoughts such as, “Well, if I were her, I’d get that enormous dent in the back of her car fixed. It’s so unsightly.” Or, “I’d never spend as much time and money on my education as he did. What a waste of precious resources.” We don’t think these things because we intend to be mean or judgmental. Dare I say: it almost comes naturally. It’s our hidden dark side. We simply hold others to our own standard.

Our outside standard. Our superficial standard. What we’re judging is how things appear, or how circumstances appear to be.

I believe that God is the only one who can see past the surface. He can even see past what people say and think about themselves – deep into the core – into the intentions of their hearts.

Because of that – God is the only one who has the right to judge. We cannot even rightly judge ourselves. (And thank goodness for that.)

The point becomes that I need to relax. I need to realize that no matter how hard I try, I cannot rightly judge a person. I cannot even judge my own performance in this life. All I can work towards is developing a heart with pure intentions. In my life, I have a model I can look to who had the purest of intentions – Jesus Christ. How would you go about developing a heart that is more pure?