A few weeks ago, I posted about lies and inner vows, the difference between them, and how these come into play in a Sozo. This time, I’m posting about observations and judgements!
We’re all told, aren’t we, that God is our judge and that we should leave making judgements to Him. So, what is a judgement? Put simply, it’s the assumption that I know what’s going on inside of you. It’s my assumption that I know the reason for what you’ve said and what you’ve done.
The problem is that an awful lot of us find this so acceptable that we do it without thinking. Of course we’ll find every reason, excuse and justification for doing so…it will be our Godly discernment kicking in or our innate ability to get to the heart or root of the people we’re with or seeing but ultimately, one way or another, we’re making a judgement and, as most of you will already know, we tend to make judgements because they make us feel better about ourselves. If we can ‘box’ someone in with a judgement then we have their measure and we feel protected.
One thing we ask all our Sozo team to do is read ‘How to Stop the Pain’ by Dr James Richards. His point is a simple one: it’s one thing to observe something or even to make an observation about someone or something, but it’s another to allow that observation to turn into a judgement by allowing your own assumption or opinion to creep in. It’s adding one’s own assumption/opinion that turns an observation into a judgement.
If we do this in a Sozo, allowing ourselves to form an opinion of our guest or anything about them, it’s not helpful, not least because it can easily lead to us starting to direct what we think are helpful questions to try and expose the judgement we’ve made. Of course, the other side to this is if we recognise that our guest is carrying a judging spirit…and the more aware we are of what judgements look like in our own life, the easier it will be to pick this up in our guests. Judgements are a protector and helping our guests to recognise why they make them and who to forgive for it will be another valuable step in their journey to freedom.
Making judgements stops us from finding the gold in people. If we’ve assumed something about them, we stop being aware of what really is going on in them…and, have you ever noticed, judgements made have a habit of sewing and reaping; they come back and bite you!