i submit to you a confession and a new challenge

i have often admitted to being a judgmental or "opinionated" person in the past. but i have denied it more often, i'm sure. i do believe that i am much more accepting than i have been in the past, but i am still saddened and convicted by exposure to just how dark my vision and expectations of others can be.

in the bright light of love and mercy, i am convicted that i have judged many people for as little as how they dress, talk, or even smell. i have also felt justified to judge many for how they behave in groups, treat others, or act towards me. and i have carried those judgments on to others who reminded me of those that have actually offended me in those ways.

i do recognize that this is wrong. each person that i meet - regardless of how my deductive reasoning may lead me to determine how i should perceive them based on discernible traits like dress, style, speech, behavior, musical or other preferences - is owed a clean slate with me. i have no right to categorize them along any lines.

i own up to my wrong attitude and vicious behavior at times. and i have issued myself a new challenge to remediate my judgmental and opinionated heart.

challenge:

1. think of a group of people whom you judge, whether it be for how they dress, talk, act, or even how they treat you or others;
2. recognize that you do not have the right to judge them (even if you feel justified because they are mean, gross, rude, etc.);
3. tell yourself and God that you no longer want to judge even one of them again, but rather to embrace each one as an individual who desires to be known and loved by the most high God;
4. ask God to give you His eyes and heart for them, even if you don't want Him to; and
5. rest in confidence that He will honor your request.

i begin the process by expressing that i judge those i have called douchebags, chotches, dude-brah-dudes and sports-bar-a-holes. i don't even have a real reason why i judge them except that i have just found them obnoxious and tasteless. i admit that i have no right to judge them and that i do so is wrong. i ask God to forgive me for it and desire that he give me his heart for them.

i now publicly ask any of you to hold me to it and support me in releasing this group from my judgments.

thank you, and may God inspire you to release others today.