Written by Pastor Jack Wellman– Mother Teresa
Judging by Appearances
I remember a true story where a man and a woman went to the snack shop in the airport and bought a package of cookies while they both waited for their flight. The man sitting next to the woman started eating her cookies one by one. She was so angry. He took one and she took one; and when there was only one left, the man offered to break it in half, but the woman stomped off, giving the man an angry look. How dare he eat her cookies! When she got on the plane, she noticed that her cookies were still inside her carry-on bag, unopened. Uh oh! When we judge by appearances, we can surely be misled.
Judging by Past
We have a few men in our church due to our prison ministry. When they get out, we accept them regardless of their past. As long as they’ve stopped breaking the law and have repented and put their trust in Christ, they are welcome at our church. We can’t trip over what’s behind us any more than we can over someone else’s past. We understand that we, too, were enemies of God at one time, but “we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life” (Romans 5:10).
Judging by Sight
When Samuel was looking at all the sons of Jesse, he thought time and again that surely this is the man who God has anointed king over Israel. But God doesn’t look at the outward appearance. The fact is, God judges by what He sees in the heart and not by what’s on the outside (1 Samuel 16:7), and we need to do the same thing. Since we can’t see into a person’s heart, we can’t make judgments based on a person’s size, income, or job. I remember that “God shows no partiality” (Romans 2:11), so I have no business showing partiality.
Conclusion
The late Mother Teresa said that if we judge people, we have no time to love them. So join with me in deciding to not judge by appearances, to not judge by someone’s past, and to not judge by sight because if we do, we’ll surely misjudge them, which is the last thing we should ever do.
