I am considering something you said in the “Going Deeper” part of this message and was hoping to get more of your thoughts on it. You said “Judging others is the idea of dividing or separating yourself from someone by deciding their worth, by making judgments about the motives of their hearts-it confuses their actions with their identities.” “It confuses their actions with their identities” is the part that really brought me pause to think. Aren’t our actions from our faith and our words an overflow from our heart? Isn’t it fair to consider who people are by how they act toward others knowing that we are all imperfect and imperfection will be part of our actions. I am submitting this while I’m in the middle of studying it out for myself. I just wanted to hear more of your thoughts on it.
That’s a great question. I think the idea of confusing actions with identity lies more in those times when we label people based on their actions-someone keeps messing things up so we label them as a failure or something of that nature. What we are doing is equating their actions with their identity. This creates the perspective that this is who you are and your value is based on these actions. So, rather than being a human being, they have been reduced to a thing.
Maybe we could say that though our actions reflect our heart, they don’t determine our identity or value. So, regardless of a person’s actions they are not a failure, an idiot, a racist, a loser, etc.
I guess the point is that the labels we assign to people based on their actions “define” them and put them in categories that separate and often give us permission to not love and value them as human beings, deeply loved by God.
Let me know if that helps.
I am considering something you said in the “Going Deeper” part of this message and was hoping to get more of your thoughts on it. You said “Judging others is the idea of dividing or separating yourself from someone by deciding their worth, by making judgments about the motives of their hearts-it confuses their actions with their identities.” “It confuses their actions with their identities” is the part that really brought me pause to think. Aren’t our actions from our faith and our words an overflow from our heart? Isn’t it fair to consider who people are by how they act toward others knowing that we are all imperfect and imperfection will be part of our actions. I am submitting this while I’m in the middle of studying it out for myself. I just wanted to hear more of your thoughts on it.
That’s a great question. I think the idea of confusing actions with identity lies more in those times when we label people based on their actions-someone keeps messing things up so we label them as a failure or something of that nature. What we are doing is equating their actions with their identity. This creates the perspective that this is who you are and your value is based on these actions. So, rather than being a human being, they have been reduced to a thing.
Maybe we could say that though our actions reflect our heart, they don’t determine our identity or value. So, regardless of a person’s actions they are not a failure, an idiot, a racist, a loser, etc.
I guess the point is that the labels we assign to people based on their actions “define” them and put them in categories that separate and often give us permission to not love and value them as human beings, deeply loved by God.
Let me know if that helps.