At first glance, these shells all look kind of the same to me.
If I only give them a passing look I can make a quick judgement about them.
I might give them a label. I might call them pretty, or plain, or ugly, or whatever.
But if I take the time to look closer, I start to notice things.
All of a sudden they don’t all fit of my labels.
The longer and closer I look, the more interesting things get!
Getting close takes more time. It takes more effort.
It means I may have to get down on my knees to get closer.
Maybe pick them up. Maybe get my hands dirty.
But it gives me a much better picture of each shell.
Now I don’t see them as a whole, but as individuals.
You can probably see where I’m going with this.
We might make quick judgements on people based on how they look.
Or who they vote for.
Or their religion, or where they’re from.
Whether they’re “maskers” or “vaxxers”.
Fill in your favorite label.
But if we do that without getting to know them and their situation,
we are not only being lazy but we remain ignorant to who they really are.
It’s easy to just lump groups of people together in categories.
It’s easy to say, "They are all 'this' or they are all 'that'."
But if we look a little closer we find that there is a lot more to a person
than those things that we labeled them with.
Before I judge another person I need to first take a hard, honest look at myself.
Then I should take the time to get to know them and their situation.
My prayer is that God would give me eyes to see others like He sees them.
With a heart of love and compassion.
I admit that I am not always as good at this as I should be.
But I want to get better at it!
Matthew 7:1-5 “Do not judge so that you will not be judged.
For by the standard you judge you will be judged,
and the measure you use will be the measure you receive.
Why do you see the speck in your brother’s eye,
but fail to see the beam of wood in your own?
You hypocrite! First remove the beam from your own eye,
and then you can see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye."