So Shaun and I went to dinner on Sunday to a buffet style restaurant and being a people watcher, I of course chose to sit close to the buffet tables to provide a better view. You can see all types of people and whether you realize it or not, you being to categorize and/or profile them.
Probably my biggest pet peeve is young men that are not sure how to pull their pants up so they wear them down below their “tushie” with their boxers showing. As and “Adult” I don’t understand why they do this and personally think it’s ridiculous.
There was a particular young man in about his mid-twenties dressed (although not as extreme and I have seen in others) like that at the restaurant. My first reaction (in my head): “What is wrong with this guy? Someone needs to tell him to grow up and do something with his life… Kids like this are just what is wrong with the world”.
Imagine my surprise (and SHAME), when a fashionably dressed older woman walked up, gave him a hug and then said: “Pastor, my son said your message in youth group was amazing! Thank you for touching our children’s lives”! Wow… boy did I get that wrong!!!!
It reminds me of when Shaun and I went to the doctor to get the results from the blood work we had done. The doctor looked at Shaun and said: “To the world, you look like the healthy one, but she (pointing to me) is the healthy one”. He then went on to explain some of the life changes Shaun needed to make to bring down his cholesterol and other challenges. This really came back to me in that moment of hearing that young man being addressed as Pastor
Because even though “The world” may have its own perception; how often do we (as Christ followers) allow what we see on the outside to judge the heart that is on the inside? I had completely written this young man off and there he was changing lives for the King of Kings. In Matthew 7:1-4 it says:
“Judge not, that you be not judged. For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you. Why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? How often do we use that scripture when we feel like we are being judged? We quickly forget verse 5 that says: “You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye”. You see we look at others though the law but expect them (AND GOD) to look at us through the eyes of Grace.
“Judge not, that you be not judged. For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you. Why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? How often do we use that scripture when we feel like we are being judged? We quickly forget verse 5 that says: “You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye”. You see we look at others though the law but expect them (AND GOD) to look at us through the eyes of Grace.
I want the world to know what I am for because they see love, not what I am against because they see judgment. This doesn’t mean that we ignore things that are wrong but rather that we love people in spite of them being messy and having messed up lives. It also means that I will think twice before making assumptions. J
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