Rushing to judgement is an easy thing to do. Someone says something negative, does something mean or gives a look that makes us think, “What the heck is their problem?” And then we start to fill in a made-up backstory about why they must be such a hostile individual.

We judge.

A few weeks ago, though, I had the chance to hear Jon Acuff speak. He made a great point about the aforementioned people that he classifies as a foe (not be confused with Pho, which has yet to let me down in life…)

The thing to remember, Jon said, is that we’re called to love our enemies. So how should we overcome our natural tendency to pass judgement and love someone, regardless of the situation?

Jon said, “Knowing someone’s story makes it impossible to judge them”.

It’s pretty simple, but struck a chord with me. How many times have I jumped to a conclusion only find out that there was a bigger issue at the heart of things?

The hard part in this advice would be getting the “getting to know the story”, because that requires going out on a limb, caring and taking time out of our own days to interact with others – oftentimes when they’ve already ruffled our feathers.

So the best way to stop judging could be could a two-fold challenge…

One, if we have the time, stop and ask someone what’s up. Listen. Learn their story.

Or two, if we’ve got to keep moving on our own path, try to consider all of the possibilities that could be affecting them and do our best not to judge. Let it roll off of our back.