I chose a specific Bible verse that speaks to me most which is, “Do not judge others, and you will not be judged. For you will be treated as you treat others. The standard you use in judging is the standard by which you will be judged. And why worry about a speck in your friend’s eye when you have a log in your own? How can you think of saying to your friend, ‘Let me help you get rid of that speck in your eye,’ when you can’t see past the log in your own eye? Hypocrite! First get rid of the log in your own eye; then you will see well enough to deal with the speck in your friend’s eye” (Matthew 7:1-5). I decided to choose this Bible verse because it fits my life perfectly. When I first read this verse it caught my eye because I felt like it fit to one of my personal experience from last year. I then read it a few more times to really understand what the Lord was trying to say throughout the verse. As I was pondering the meaning of what I was reading, I realized that I chose this verse because I feel judged every day and especially on the one day over a year ago. At this point in the stages of Lectio Divina I am visualizing what happened to be and how the scripture applies.
Before I came to college I worked for a Christian camp over the summer doing random jobs such as, housekeeping or snack shack, or whatever they needed me to do. They absolutely loved having me work there and always enjoyed talking highly of me to my parents. They said that I was one of their hardest and best workers. Well come the end of the Summer I had to leave to come to Ursuline and they told me that when I came back for next summer that I would have a job with them. So I go through my year at Ursuline and do what I came to do. When I came I had to re-apply because that was just their policy, but this time I didn’t get accepted right away. They kept tip toeing around and not telling me whether I had a job or not. That’s when I went to a meeting and made it evident that I needed and wanted the job.
At the meeting I got news that really rocked my world. I was informed that the man who owned the place found out that I was gay and didn’t want that kind of sin there. At first I was just shocked because I didn’t realize people even cared that much about what I did in my spare time and how that even effected them. The owner refused to have a meeting with me and told me not to come back. I was absolutely dumbfounded and what was happening. My first thought was revenge because of how much pain and trouble that he caused me, but the more I thought about the situation, the more I realized that I would just be stooping to his level. My final reaction was just to forgive him for judging me the way that he did and move on to find another job.
By reading this verse it allowed me to relax a little more in how I reacted to the situation. For him to have said that he didn’t want that kind of sin working there goes hand and hand with the part of the verse that talks about having a log in your eye. He couldn’t see all of his sins, but could only see mine and decided to act on it instead of looking at himself. I know that in the end he will be judged the way that he judged me and that God has seen my pain. By doing that I know that God isn’t going to be in revenge, but I do feel like He will allow that man’s eyes to be opened to the situation.
Lastly I decided to put the Bible verse to use in my life. I do this by working hard to place judgement because I know exactly how that hurts. To sum up the verse in an old saying, “Treat others how you would like to be treated.” If everyone did that, then I feel that the world would be a much happy place. With no judgement and cruelty to leave people hurt and confused.