A Book and Its Cover

Last night my oldest son and I started reading a book about Jackie Robinson.  He like me loves history and baseball, and so this book was a perfect read.  Of course being seven years old he didn’t understand why some people didn’t want Jackie Robinson to play baseball with them.  Not wanting to get into a full blown race conversation with my seven year old, we talked about how some people thought those people who weren’t like them weren’t as important as they were.  You could see that it wasn’t making a lot of sense to Eli.  That is partly because he is seven, but also partly due to the fact that as a family we have a baby girl who is biracial.  Therefore, the thought of people being treated differently just because they look different never really crossed Eli’s mind.  As a family we have always called Cataleyah part of our family, because to us she is.  And so after Eli went to bed, I sat up thinking and just watching some YouTube videos.  I have always enjoyed the “diamond in the rough” type stories.  So I watched some of the auditions of people from American Idol, America’s Got Talent, Britain’s Got Talent, and The X Factor (sleep was a problem last night).  There were several times when a person would walk out on stage of the various shows and the audience would begin to laugh, point, mock, and even the judges would have a look about them or say a sarcastic remark.  And then it happened, they began to sing and suddenly the judges and crowd that were laughing and mocking them just moments before begin to cheer, because they realized that past the outer appearance of the person, this person was uniquely gifted.  What changed about those performing?  The answer is absolutely nothing.  The only thing that changed was the crowd’s and judge’s perception of the person once they got to see them as they truly are.

We have all heard the saying “you can’t judge a book by its cover” yet it seems as if we are ALL guilty of doing it at various times and in various situations.  This shows us our fallenness as a human race.  It shows that we don’t appreciate the similarities as well as the differences between us.  The fact of the matter is that the Bible teaches that all people are made in the image of God (Gen. 1:26) and therefore deserve to be treated with dignity, respect, and even love. When we judge a person based solely on their appearance, that is an indictment against us on the fact that we are too lazy to take the time to get to know the person.  1 Samuel 16:7 says, “But the LORD said unto Samuel, Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him: for the LORD seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart.”  As Christians especially, we are to strive to follow God’s example.  Can we ever truly know what is in a person’s heart?  Probably not!  But we can take the time to learn what they are willing to share about themselves.  Every person has a story, we have all walked different paths to get where we are, and it is incumbent on me as a Christian to care enough about them to get to know them.  The last video I watch was about a 10 year old little boy who was blind and who had an incredible voice for his age.  The last thought that ran through my head before finally drifting off to sleep is maybe our problem isn’t that we are too blind to appreciate differences in people, maybe our problem is that we can see and we trust our sight.  Take time to get to know people and their story, they were created by Almighty God, and only when we get to know them can we care about them.  And only when we care about them can we love them enough to share the Gospel with them.  God sees everything, but is blind to the differences, He only sees the heart of a person and whether or not they have accepted His gift of salvation.  May we be blind so that we can see the true worth and need of all people.

By His grace and through His strength may we live for Him