Paul was
a preacher and he did not like it when his congregations started accusing each other of doing bad things. He asked his congregation, “Why do you pass judgment on your
brother or sister?” Paul knows that the although his congregations work in the
world like Jesus did when he was a living man, the world and the congregation is made up many kinds of people: ones who eat
differently, pray differently, celebrate differently, sing differently and live
differently from one another but still earnestly love and worship God. But those differences should never cause us to judge of one another.
It reminds me of a story about a girl called Liz who had
a friend named Evelyn, and they were really different. Evelyn would wear a
blue dress to school and Liz would say “I’m Not like you, I like pink
dresses and she would smile. Eveyln would show up after school for the softball
team wearing Nike shoes. Her friend would say I’m Not like you I wear Aditas
shoes, and then she would smile. They would go to church and when they said the
Lord’s Prayer Evelyn would say “forgive us a trespasses as we forgive those who
trespass against us.” Her friend Liz would lean over and whisper, “I’m Not like you,
I say it right, “forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors,” and then she
would look at Evelyn and smile. When they sang the hymns Evelyn always sang in
a soft voice but Liz always sang loudly. After the hymn, Liz would lean over and say “I’m Not like you, I sing so people can hear me!, and
then she would smile at Evelyn.
All this made Evelyn feel pretty bad like she
was some kind of outcast and was doing the wrong things. But as she walked out of church that day, she had an
idea and turned to Liz and said, I should change your name to “I’m Not Like You”
but I won’t because every time you tell
me I’m not like you about whatever I am doing or saying or wearing, I realize you are right! I’m not you
at all, but what I am is your friend who goes to the same school, plays on the same ball team, goes to the same church and prays to the same God. So even though we are very, very different
people, we are pretty much alike, and then Evelyn smiled at her friend Liz and gave her a hug.
From
that day on, her friend never again said “I’m not like you because…..” Liz realized she was thankful and blessed that Evelyn was different than her. It
made her appreciate that there are all kind of people in the world that do
things differently than she does and just because they are different is no
reason to criticize them because their differences are what make them
absolutely perfect friends for each other since they both worked together, especially at church !
That is why Paul says we better not judge others. They may be helping us be better Christians because we learn to love each other even though we are different.
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