Judge not

I have been thinking today of Christ Jesus’ teachings that we “Judge not, that ye be not judged” (Matthew 7:1) and also “lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil.” (Luke 11:4) In the years before coming to Plainfield, I found that it was so easy to look out to those in my life, or in the world at large, and see people doing things I feel I wouldn’t do and then cast judgments. After coming here, however, and going through this process of learning Christian Science and having practitioner support, I have begun to see things in such a different way. How can I say I wouldn’t behave in a certain way if I had the opportunities that others have, when God gave me a fairly large vocabulary and a fairly quick wit and I have used those gifts so many times in the past to cut other people down. How, also, could I say I wouldn’t behave in a certain way if I had other people’s burdens knowing that what I felt burdened with saw me lash out for years and finally get to point where I was contemplating suicide. Since I have succumbed to the temptations to use the opportunities God gave me in evil ways, and succumbed to the temptation to blame the burdens my mortal life gave me for how I was such a jerk before and for how I ultimately lost hope, it is clear that I have no stable footing to judge anyone. I am so grateful for the way that Christian Science has provided me with the tools to really go inside my thought over time and start to cut away at those false beliefs and shut down most if not all of those judgments; and grateful as well that I could work with a practitioner to expose the errors I couldn’t see so that the process of its self-destruction could begin and I can finally be delivered from the temptations of these evils. I am so grateful to be here. Being a member of this church is a constant blessing!