Scripture

Our verse for today comes from Acts 11:9, ” But the voice answered me again from heaven, ‘What God has cleansed you must not call common.’ “

Background

I am prejudiced. I’m not sure to what extent or how deep it goes, but I definitely have prejudice within me. I do think I am for the most part free of prejudice against any particular race of people, but there still remains a whole world of things for me to unfairly judge and discriminate against. And one of those victims is the smoker. Beyond the smell of the smoke that gives me a headache, and the decades of warnings that smoking can kill you, there is something within me that causes me to inherently regard smokers as less than non- smokers. It pushes me from them . It causes me to look at them rather than see them. It is unfair and wrong. But they are not my only stooge. Those who only eat certain foods, or who drink certain drinks, or who say certain words, they all fall under my gavel of self- proclaimed righteousness. It’s ugly to recognize, and unpleasant to admit. I look at many of you around me and immediately judge and fill out my scorecard. But it’s not fun. There is no joy in winning, and losing feels even worse. For without fail, the ballot I am casting as to who is better and who is worse is always reflective, and so I see myself staring back at me as I rank us all, like a loser trying to change the rules after the fact.

Application

There’s not a single person alive who is like me, or you. And so, every encounter with every other individual is an opportunity to judge them, evaluate them, and grade them. Or not. The same opportunity exists to accept them, enjoy them, and celebrate the differences. Certainly some of their traits need improving, but we are no less imperfect. We are also not called to improve their traits or be their standard. We have been weighed in the balance and been found wanting, but God’s grace has done for us what we could not do for ourselves. It’s not amazing that God loves them, but it’s so amazing that He loves me. I dirty what He has cleaned, I undo what He does. I judge those He died for. So today, I’m laying down my gavel, again. And I’m thanking God that He doesn’t use it against me.

Charge

As we seek Him today, ask God to allow you to see how you look at others. And when He does, be sure to do something about it.