“Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment.” John 7:24
Do Not Judge
Walk His Way Revisited
First Posted in May, 2014
As I drove home from a Women’s Bible Study on the Spiritual Workshops (and the grocery store), I watched a man at the crosswalk as I was waiting for the light to change. He had a can of something in one hand and I wondered what he was doing just standing on the corner this late at night (it was 10:00). Then his light turned green and as he stepped off the curb, I watched him walk. He walked with a very strong limp with his left leg and his left hand was bent in a way that I knew he had a disability.
In our workshop we talked about how some people in our lives are “filler” people. They are just around us. We run across them, so to speak, but they aren’t part of our lives. We don’t know their name, don’t know anything about them, and they don’t usually touch us or even interact with us—but they are important to God. I began to wonder if this man had a family or if he was alone. I didn’t know who he was or anything about him, but God did. I knew at that very moment that he was important to God and my heart poured out to him and I started praying for him. “For the LORD does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart” (1 Samuel 16:7b).
Even though we don’t interact with these people, we know God has placed them there for a reason. Nothing He does is ever wasted or without purpose.
Father, I pray that I don’t ever treat people like “filler” people and that I don’t judge their appearance. Please remind me that everyone is important to You, and help me see them through Your eyes. In Jesus Name. Amen.
In a small town nearby, there are a couple brothers who periodically used to make an appearance on the main road thru the area that would capture the local attention. Jumping out into traffic, dressed in a bizarre manner, etc. I passed that scene a couple times and got a horrendous burden to pray for deliverance for whoever that is. An unimaginable way to live.
Then a couple years ago, I read that it was drugs and not just a mental problem, which on the one hand changed the way I felt. The destructive nature of drugs is something I understand better than ‘legion’ as I had been thinking. They were arrested once in awhile and things would calm down, but I haven’t seen them out on the road or heard of them being out like in the past.. So now I wonder if the Lord heard my prayer and they/he received the deliverance I had asked for…. I may never know, but I can hope!
What a beautiful reminder. He cares.