See The Person On The Inside

"From now on, we regard no one according to the flesh" -2 Corinthians 5:16

I was reading an article written by -David McCasland in which he wrote about four black college students in Greensboro North Carolina. On February 1, 1960 these young students sat down at a "whites only" lunch counter, one of them Franklin McCain noticed an older white woman seated nearby looking at them. He was sure that her thoughts were unkind towards them and their protest against segregation. A few minutes later she walked over to them, put her hands on their shoulders, and said, "Boys, I am so proud of you."

McCain recalled the events years later on National Public Radio, he said the events taught him never to stereotype anyone, instead take time to consider others and seek an opportunity to talk with them. My grandmother would always tell me "never judge a book by it's cover" and that is what happen in 1960 at the lunch counter in Greensboro North Carolina, those four students seen the color of her skin and thought she could only see the same.

God informed Samuel that a young sheep herder named David would be the one anointed King, Samuel's reply was that David was just a boy, but God said to Samuel "Do not look at his appearance or at his physical stature" 1 Samuel 16:7, In a way you might say that Samuel stereotyped David before he knew anything about him. Samuel could only see a young boy watching over a few sheep of his fathers, and not the warrior that fought off bears and lions to protect his flock. He could not see the warrior on the inside that would later slay thousands to save his people and how God would call him a man after His own heart, and he most definitely did not see him being King David in the blood line of Jesus.

Stereotyping others before we know them is something that is common among so many people including Christian's, it seem it has become part of our culture. We look at how a person is dressed, how they speak, and the color of their skin before we even know the person on the inside, we judge the book by the cover and never take time to know the story.

When Jesus went into His home town of Nazareth He was rejected and stereotyped as just the carpenter. People were astonished by His teaching, His wisdom, and the mighty works He had performed. Jesus had went into different towns and healed the sick, made the blind to see and the lame to walk, He had cast out demons, but yet He was rejected by those who knew Him. "Is this not the carpenter? they asked, is He not the son of Mary, and brother of James, Joses, Judas, and Simon? And are not His sisters here with us?" Thou Jesus performed many miracles, and amazed them with His teaching, they still could not see who He was, they could only see the person they thought they new, the carpenter.

I sat down and spoke with two young men concerning the reason they no longer attended church. The two said they did not like being judged by those in their church and made to feel out of place. The young men style of dressing is what brought on the attention to them, they went on to say that the preacher turned his attention onto them and the way they were dressed, this of course upset the young men and they left the church vowing that they would never return.

Paul wrote to the Corinthians church saying "Therefore, from now on, we regard no-one according to the flesh," the appearance of a person is the way we typically evaluate each other. If the person has long hair and tattoo's they are automatically stereotyped as a trouble maker, if a woman is wearing a dress that you think is to short she is labeled as being easy, if a young man is wearing his pants to low he is a thug. You think that you know who and what a person is or will become by their outer layer but just as you peel away the outer layer of a onion to find the good, we sometimes have to do the same with people. The clothes and the look may be dark and ugly to you but the heart may be one of love and pleasing to God.

We should always try to see others in the way that Jesus would see them and not in the way that the world sees them, when we look in a mirror it seems that we can never see our own blemishes but it is so easy to see those of others. The one thing that most have trouble doing is looking pass the past of others, you will hear some stand up in church and thank God for bringing them to were they are. They will speak of who they were and the things they did, "but that was the old me" they say "now I am a new man in Christ." But the same person can not look past the end of their noise when some one else has turned their life around, they will always see their past and ridicule them to others, the very people who say they follow Jesus Christ can never see someone the way He would see them.

"Assuredly, I say to you, no prophet is accepted in his own country." Luke 4:24

As a young boy I endured a lot of ridicule from others due to a speech impediment, kids can be harsh with words when your blemishes are so easy to see. What they could not see was that in which God had planned for me, they could only see that in which was in front of them and not what God had already placed in my future. Today I have no speech impediment and my voice is my tool, I am not ridiculed for how I speak, but receive complements instead.

We must understand that the person you see today is not the person of tomorrow unless that is what they choose to be, God has a path set for us and that path leads to His perfect plan if we will surrender to Him and allow Him to guide us.

Look for the person on the inside of others and encourage them, plant a seed of hope and help them grow. If you know what God has done for you and how far He has brought you from, than you must understand that He can do the same for that alcoholic, the drug addict, the drug dealer or the prostitute. God never said we had to be perfect for Him to use us, we just have to be willing, so the next time before you stereotype someone, take sometime and get to know them first, get to know the person on the inside.

See The Person On The Inside Written by French Miller / Called2Blessing Ministries, Please visit http://www.called2blessingministries.org