If you grew up watching Rowan & Martin\u2019s Laugh-In, you can probably still see it — Sammy Davis Jr. or Flip Wilson strutting across the stage, gavel in hand, declaring with a grin, \u201cHere comes da\u2019 Judge!\u201d It was comedy gold back then — and oddly, it feels a little too familiar now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What once made us laugh, has slipped into real life. These days it seems like everyone is holding a gavel. Social media has become a courtroom. News feeds sound like verdicts. Even church pews sometimes echo with quiet judgments — guilty or innocent, right or wrong, approved or canceled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Goodness gracious — we\u2019re tired of it all!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We\u2019re all in the middle of becoming — no longer who we were, not quite who we will be. It\u2019s that awkward in-between season, like wearing shoes that haven\u2019t been broken in yet. But that middle ground is holy ground. That\u2019s where God does His best work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And right there, He whispers something freeing:
Let’s stop being critical and judgmental. Let’s be the ones who lift up, encourage and respect other people’s views — even if their views are polar opposite.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That one truth could save friendships, families, and a whole lot of Facebook threads.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jesus saw our judging hearts coming. That\u2019s why He said,
\u201cJudge not, that you be not judged.\u201d (Matthew 7:1)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Not because truth doesn\u2019t matter — but because condemnation slams doors that grace was meant to open.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
God loves us exactly as we are — on our messiest, least-put-together days — and in that same love, He gently leads us toward growth. He doesn\u2019t shout from the bench. He walks beside us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There\u2019s a world of difference between conviction and criticism. One draws us closer to God. The other pushes people away.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So maybe today we lay down the gavel and pick up a pom-pom and become a cheerleader. Maybe instead of shouting, \u201cHere comes da\u2019 judge,\u201d we say, \u201cHere comes an encourager!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cEncourage one another and build each other up.\u201d (1 Thessalonians 5:11)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Life feels lighter when we stop trying to be the Holy Spirit for everyone else. Grace grows best in roomy hearts. Let\u2019s give each other space to grow — and cheer one another all the way there. \ud83d\udc9b<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
If you grew up watching Rowan & Martin\u2019s Laugh-In, you can probably still see it — Sammy Davis Jr. or Flip Wilson strutting across the stage, gavel in hand, declaring with a grin, \u201cHere comes da\u2019 Judge!\u201d It was comedy gold back then — and oddly, it feels a little too familiar now. What once…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":23647,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1720,9606,7463,15181,33149,1102,33153,33145,33150],"class_list":["post-23646","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-encourage","tag-flip-wilson","tag-judge","tag-judgmental","tag-laugh-in-2","tag-respect","tag-rowan-martin-2","tag-sammy-davis-jr","tag-verdict"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23646","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=23646"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23646\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23654,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23646\/revisions\/23654"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/23647"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=23646"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=23646"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=23646"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}