"Do you look at things according to the outward appearance"
2 Corinthians 10:7 NKJV
So many times I have looked at the cover of a book and, believing it to be an exciting read, have purchased it only to find it was no good at all. The cover was just that - a cover, just an outward appearance with no reference to what was in the text. We can do this with the people we meet. Some of us may look at a man with a shaved head and covered in tattoos and make the judgement that you need to give him a wide berth. I've heard several people say that, in this day and age, it is so easy to see someone from an ethnic background carrying a backpack and think, this could be a terrorist. It seems terrible to think this way but, this is how life has taught us to react.
I wonder what it would have felt like to see John the Baptist in the street. Camel hair clothes held together by a leather belt, long, straggly hair and eating locusts and wild honey. Have you ever thought about that? It would have been quite a strange, if not scary sight to see. Especially when he started screaming out, 'Repent'. But the most wonderful thing about John was that, he pointed the way to Jesus; and that's all that matters.
In 1 Samuel 16:7 we read: 'Do not look at his appearance or at his physical stature, because I have refused him. For the Lord does not see as man sees; for a man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.' In 1962, before his untimely death in an air crash, Bo Diddly sang 'You can't judge a book by the cover:'
'You can't judge an apple by looking at the tree, you can't judge honey by looking at the bee,
You can't judge a daughter by looking at the mother, You can't judge a book by looking at the cover'
Words and Music Willie Dixon
We get it wrong many times and we need to be mindful of Jesus' words: 'Judge not that you be not judged. 2 For with what judgement you judge, you will be judged' Matthew 7:1-2. It is serious business when we judge people; because we will be judged the same by Jesus. We also paint a false picture of someone and this is akin to gossip. Gossip sticks and can be seen as the truth. This is why we should be careful.
The next time you are tempted to judge someone you see, stop and think of John the Baptist; if you had been there at the time, you would have got it wrong, and you will probably get it wrong here. So be careful.
Copyright 2021 Grahame Howard.
Member of the National Association of Christian Ministers
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