We have all kinds of standards by which we measure people. We look at people and we test them by their skin colour or their dress or nationality or their wealth or any number of things. We are big on testing the outside of people. We look at people and by their appearance we can judge them to be good or bad. We look at some people and we judge them to be a threat or judge them to be an ally.
As part of an ice breaker a few years ago I was asked to look at a collage of photographs or people and decide which ones were drug dealers. I refused to do it – I couldn’t tell who sold drugs because of the way they looked. The test had a purpose because some of the ones who liked least likely were the dealers.
That's a bit extreme, but we as Christians can be just as quick to judge by what we see on the outside.
But that is not God. That is not what God judges. God judges the heart. That is the standard by which God tests and tries men. We all may look on the outward appearance, but God sees the hearts of people.
We never know what people are going though when we see them. We can’t know. People are hurting and damaged and broken by sin and we tend to just attack and condemn them. The truth is that many of them have hearts that are seeking after God but they don’t know where to find Him.
God tests the hearts so the heart needs to be our focus as well and only Christ can mend a broken heart.
No comments:
Post a Comment