Finger Pointing

I can be so quick to judge. It happens so instinctively, sometimes without a thought. Just a few weeks ago, I had the inevitable happen. My  car got bonked while exiting a Spurs game. It didn’t help that it was pouring rain that night or that we were the last one out of the parking lot. I certainly wanted to make sure the bonk-er knew that he was to blame. Why do I do that?

It was just a fender bender, but oh, how easy it is to attach blame! You know the drill. Finger pointing.  We’ve seen it at all levels. Youth sports.  Professional sports. Politics. Work situations. Relational struggles. Road rage. Performance issues. Marital spats. Sibling quarrels. You-name-it-Facebook-judging. We live in a season where there is plenty of finger pointing. We’re so quick to judge others. How quickly we forget that when we point the finger at someone else, there are three fingers pointed back at ourselves. We usually want to avoid those three fingers.

Finger pointing even took place in the Bible. Back in Genesis 3:11-13, God asked Adam and Eve about their sin. They both chose to point the finger to someone else.  God asked them if they had eaten from the tree that He commanded them not to eat from? I would guess at this point Adam would like to crawl into an Eden cave. He responded “The woman you put here with me-she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.” When God asked the woman “What is this you have done?” She replied “The serpent deceived me, and I ate it.” No one could own up to anything! Yet, God knew all along what was going on. And God knows with us as well.

Why are you and I so quick to judge? Do our comments, words and responses really benefit those that hear or read it? How is our negativity being helpful for the common good of others? Will others that hear or read our words be encouraged? Have we looked at the greater picture, realizing we also make mistakes and fall short?

It occurred to me after our fender bender, that I could have just as easily hit another car in the parking lot.  I realized that I was just as vulnerable to make the same mistake.  When I came to grips with my propensity to goof up, God softened my heart. He humbled my heart as well and I realized my cranky attitude. It truly was a good lesson for me.

Could we stop and consider our own propensities? Why such a critical spirit? Why attack others we don’t know? Why talk behind someone’s back and judge? Why write mean and spiteful things for all to read? We don’t know the whole situation, yet we find it easy to be the judge of all. In doing so, we place ourselves on a throne that only God occupies.

“Therefore, let us stop passing judgment on one another. Instead, make up your mind not to put any stumbling block or obstacle in your brother’s way.” Romans 14:13

Nancy Abbott is the Chaplain for the YMCA of Greater San Antonio.