Why We Should Never Look Down On Others

Looking down on others has gotten so bad that it has almost become a national sport in America. Every day the media and the Internet are full of headlines about the latest failings of both celebrities and ordinary Americans.

When someone fails spectacularly, the talking heads in the media gleefully discuss how bad that person is hour after hour - at least until the next big juicy piece of gossip comes along.

The truth is that we are being taught by the media to hate and to judge one another - Republican vs. Democrat, men vs. women, religious vs. non-religious, conservative vs. liberal, people of one race vs. people of another race, wealthy vs. poor, urban vs. rural - it seems like there is a never ending supply of people out there to look down upon and to blame our problems on.

But should we be this way?

Imagine this: You wake up one day and notice that all the big networks are airing a two hour documentary in prime time that night starring YOU. You are excited because you think that now you will be world famous, but your excitement turns to horror as you discover that the 2 hour documentary will be revealing all of the most horrible, disgusting and wicked things that you ever thought, did and said.

If you are like most people, you would want to run away from society forever and never come back.

Why?

The truth is that ALL of us have done evil. We all have done disgusting and horrible things we would never want the world to know. We like to think of ourselves as "good", but all of us know that if our private thoughts, our private actions and our most wicked deeds were televised around the world it would expose us as we really are.

So no person, religious or otherwise, should ever look down on someone else.

The truth is that we all need mercy.

As we document the increasing wickedness of America, the reality is that it is not because we have it all together either. The Scriptures say that ALL have sinned and that ALL need the grace and mercy of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Now, some people have kind of done the opposite and have made "do not judge" into a rule that says that nobody can ever say anything that anyone does is wrong.

But that is not what being judgmental means.

It is not being judgmental to say what the law is.

It IS being judgmental to determine if someone in particular is breaking that law.

For example, saying "do not commit adultery" is not being judgmental.

But sitting there and thinking that someone is cheating on their spouse when you don't know that for a fact is being judgmental.

You are "passing judgment" that someone has broken the law against adultery.

Do you see the difference?

The reality is that we will all stand before God someday and He is the one who will judge us.

Since all of us have sinned, that puts us all in a very bad position.

But the good news is that Jesus Christ paid the penalty for all of our sins on the cross.

If we will invite Jesus into our lives, God will forgive our sins and will give us eternal life.

But if we refuse Christ's payment for our sin, then we will have to pay for our own sins.

Those who have received Christ and are saved don't have any reason to look down on others. We have simply reached out for a "life preserver" and we should be thankful for the amazing mercy of God.

Let us all tell the news of the great mercy of God to as many people as we can while there is still time.