Do not judge by appearances...

"Do not judge by appearances, but judge with right judgment." John 7:24

God intended the Sabbath to be a blessing. Jewish leadership had turned it into a system or rules to be followed. They created rules around what was allowed and what was not. They created an enormous list of rules around what they thought it meant to observe the sabbath. For example, you were only allowed to tie knots on the Sabbath that could be untied with one hand. As a result, they completely missed the revealed glory of God in Jesus, because He healed someone on the Sabbath, an action Jewish leaders decided was wrong.

Read the following examples of judging people with "wrong judgment" and consider how they missed or nearly missed what God might have had for them because of their own preconceived notions:

1 Samuel 16:1-12
Jonah 1:1-3; 3:1-4; 4:1-3
Acts 10:9-35
James 2:1-10

Consider how it is that our preconceived notions about people and about how people should look, or act affect how we see them. Are there people that you find yourself avoiding? Maybe people of different backgrounds, or handicapped people, or older people, or people with tattoos and piercings, or people of a different race. Why is it that we find some people difficult to pursue? How is it that God sees these people?

When we avoid certain people, are we not doing exactly what the Pharisees did with Jesus: "Judge by appearances" and not with "right judgments?"

Christ-follower, pray that God would give you His heart for people. Pray that the very heart of God that pursued us "while we were yet sinners," not because we were lovely, but because he chose to. I've become convinced that we have cheapened the idea of love, to some sort of magical feeling that comes from outside of us, that we can't help when it comes or when it goes. Yet the "love" modeled by God, was a decision. It was a decision to pursue those who had rejected Him - "for God so loved the world" why? Because we had done so many wonderful things? Because we had so much to offer God? NO, because he chose to.

This kind of love is otherly. I mean, we can't do it on our own, but only as our hearts are transformed by the Holy Spirit. Are you willing to let God break down your barriers, your preconceived ideas, your sense of right and wrong that don't come from Him in order to see and pursue people as He did?