judge this

When you inappropriately judge another person, you appropriately define yourself.

This doesn't mean we're not to evaluate what comes out of someone and determine a reasonable response. Some avoid doing even that out of fear of offending another person, which (according to culture) is the "worst thing you could possibly ever do."

Is it?

Jesus never once suggested (including within the often misquoted "Judge not, lest ye be judged" statement) that we have no authority to make evaluative conclusions about human behavior. Rather, the authority comes from Him and His standards as we live out mutual accountability... it's to be two-sided and not full of lop-sized hypocrisy. Even within our "Who are you to judge me?" culture, we must push through our fear of offending someone by helping them see their blind spots and growing through them... we must believe this is important.

Is it?

The line, which I fundamentally proposed, is to become aware of how your healthy evaluation can easily get off-track and become an unhealthy, locked-in summary of who you think this person is. You can begin to see him/her as a "snob" when compared to your "humility," or as a "low life" when compared with your "morality." You will start to pride yourself on your ability to see through people, without realizing how you've become amazed at your own brilliance regarding the dullness you see in other people.  You will apply this to people above you, below you and next to you.

Of course, none of this probably applies to you. It likely just applies to someone else. This blind spot isn't at all a part of who you are, how you connect with others and the sass by which you approach the world.

Is it?

"Don’t pick on people, jump on their failures, criticize their faults— unless, of course, you want the same treatment. That critical spirit has a way of boomeranging. It’s easy to see a smudge on your neighbor’s face and be oblivious to the ugly sneer on your own. Do you have the nerve to say, ‘Let me wash your face for you,’ when your own face is distorted by contempt? It’s this whole traveling road-show mentality all over again, playing a holier-than-thou part instead of just living your part. Wipe that ugly sneer off your own face, and you might be fit to offer a washcloth to your neighbor." (Matthew 7:1-5, The Message)