Don't judge me!

"Don't judge me!" It's one of those phrases we've started saying as a joke, that I often wonder how serious we actually are. Honestly I can say there are times when I legitimately am thinking "No, please, for real- don't judge me."
I got to thinking about it that this is one of those things people as a whole crave- not to be judged. Even as young as elementary age, we worry about being judged. We worry that our trapper keeper doesn't have the right stickers on it, and that our book bag isn't as cool as the mass says it should be. It only gets worse the older we are, because things become more expensive to compete with- the coolest car, iPod, surround sound, cell phone, clothes, whatever. High schoolers are especially bad because most of the time they're not paying for whatever thing it is, and they feel more entitled as the "young and the beautiful". I can say this as a person who wasn't in the popular crowd in high school, so I know how it looks. I can also say it as a woman who's matured enough to not hold bitterness against people from my high school. Again, don't get me wrong- I've been known to judge. But I'm human just like everyone else, so I can't help it any more than the next 22 year old.
I feel like people are always hoping that what they do will get the "right" judgement from their peers, be it co-workers or classmates. I think I finally got to the point where overall I don't care what other people are thinking about me. I've found my validation in God and my identity in God. I know He is the one who will eventually judge me, so why should I bother trying to impress anyone but him?

"Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye." Matthew 7:1-5