Judge Ye Not....

"Judge ye not lest ye be judged".....it's part of a Bible verse (Matthew 7:1) that has been used and misused in so many different ways. Does it mean we are never to judge other people? No. It means that you will be held to the same standards to which you hold others. If I'm talking to my kids and point an unacceptable behavior from them, I had better make sure I'm not doing the exact same thing! But that's not really the point of this post. I have very thin skin in that I take a lot of stuff personally and get my feelings hurt very easily. I try not to, but it happens anyway. I also am my own worst critic. I can say something at 8 AM with the best of intentions, starting thinking about it several hours later and by noon I'm kicking myself because the other person *may* have not taken it how I intended it, been offended by it, how I could have handled the situation better, whatever. I'm not a perfectionist, but I do have high standards by which I hold myself accountable. Too high maybe? In more sane moments :-) , I'm sure 90% of the time, people don't think twice over whatever I'm beating myself up for, or they are judging themselves for their part in the interaction. For example, I post on Facebook and delete those posts an hour later because they could be taken "wrong" or because I shouldn't have joined someone else's thread. But the worst is, I always have felt as though people judge me by my children's actions. Those kids arguing 3 minutes after church service ends Sunday morning before we're even out the sanctuary doors? Yep! They're mine! Good job, Mom! *insert eye rolling emoticon here* That's actually one reason why we left our previous church. Everyone else's kids behaved perfectly and siblings got along like best friends and mine didn't. I felt so guilty that I was doing such a poor job and didn't have the savings available for when my kids would need therapy as adults for their terrible homelife as kids! Thankfully there are more "real" families at our new church home, ones without perfect kids. *sigh* Anyhoo....yesterday I was reading the notes we get each week at Bible study, and there was a statement in there about how Christ died for our sins, AND He died for our guilt. I have no need to feel guilty for every word that comes out of my mouth (not that there couldn't be less of them coming out!) and every action. I don't need to feel guilty for what I perceive other people judging me or for what I judge myself. I DO need to examine my words and deeds and ask the Holy Spirit for conviction when I DO do something that needs repaired, but as an imperfect creature in an imperfect world, I have to understand that will happen occasionally, just not necessarily as often as I think it does! And it's a good thing that when I repent, that God doesn't keep rehashing all my mistakes. He doesn't continue to judge me on that. It's gone - the offense AND the guilt have been wiped away. I would do well to remember that more often. Does this all make sense? I know I'm too sensitive and consider too much about what other people think. I just want to be a good witness for Christ and for my words to honor Him, and I don't want people to judge Christ by my words and/or actions, and I don't want to hurt anyone else's feelings. *sigh again* And you know as soon as I hit "publish post," I'm going to be questioning myself over whether that was a good idea or not...... (and yes, I've already posted and edited!)