Jesus instructs his followers not to judge, or we will be judged.  I heard a preacher recently say that he believes this is the most quoted verse in the Bible.  While it requires us to understand the context of what he is saying and total Biblical comprehension of the concept, it is relatively simple.  We are to withhold our judgments about people because that is the way we want to be treated. 

One reason that judging is so dangerous is that it relies on limited experience.  It is easy to take one poor exchange and let that be the determining factor for our thinking.  We say to ourselves, “Their tone sounded angry to me; I bet that is because they are an angry person.” Possibly we think, “They did not do what I desired in this situation, so they are a disagreeable person.”

We never seem to factor in the intangibles.  Maybe that person was going through a crisis.  Perhaps they had not been able to sleep the night before.  They could be stressed about a difficult decision.  It is quite possible that the undercurrents of personal turmoil impacted them so deeply that they became something they never wanted in that situation.

I know this is true because of my own experience.  I am sure I have made people mad and led them to question my faith and personal holiness because of one bad day.  I try not to allow outside influences to adjust my character, but it still seems to happen.  I have been judged as a bad person because of specific days in my life where even I knew I was being a jerk. 

Not judging other people is hard.  It is so easy for us to do.  One way to help you overcome it is by saying to your soul, “Maybe they are just having a bad day.” Hopefully, that will increase your level of grace.  And remember, a day will come when you wish people understood that you were just having a bad day too.