Subtitle: Let someone's surface be just the beginning, and not the entirety, of what you know about them. 

Excerpt: Let someone's surface be just the beginning, and not the entirety, of what you know about them. 

Author: Rich Holt

Scripture

Our verse for today comes from 2 Samuel 21:20, ” Yet again there was war at Gath, where there was a man of great stature, who had six fingers on each hand and six toes on each foot, twenty-four in number; and he also was born to the giant. ” 

Background

When my eldest son was younger, he was always big for his age. From the very first time the nurses weighed and measured him in the hospital delivery room, his numbers have always come back far above average. For years, his height and weight were consistently at or above the 100 percentile mark, and there was a time when we wondered just how big he might turn out to be, as my undersized genetic tree battled against the more robust genetics of my wife’s heritage. And given his above-average frame, he took to playing sports with a fair amount of success. Being substantially taller and heavier than other eight, nine, or ten-year-olds gave him an advantage that other players had little answer for. But as he got older, several things occurred. One was that he continued to grow, though not at the exponential rate of his earlier childhood. And with his growth came the expectation from others that he would continue to pursue sports. But while he grew, other kids did as well. And it’s not nearly as uncommon for fifteen and sixteen-year-olds to be taller than six feet as it is for 11-year-olds to be five feet or more. But even more significant than his bodily changes were the changes he experienced in his interests. He wisely saw the futility and limitations of chasing a future playing sports. The inordinate amount of time required to excel would make it nearly impossible to enjoy or explore other things, and that is what he wanted to do. And it took a while for some who only saw him as big to understand this assessment. To them, his primary gifts were plain to see. 

Application

But we should be careful to pigeon-hole others by how we think we see them. Clothing style or music choices, or any other trait that might catch our attention, might mean something. But it doesn’t mean everything, and it most certainly doesn’t mean that you know the person or what their story is. Six fingers and six toes might mean they’re a giant. But it might not. Don’t let too much of this or too little of that keep you from knowing someone who wants to be known. 

Charge

As we seek Him today, let someone’s surface be just the beginning, and not the entirety, of what you know about them. 

Salvation – Eternal Life in Less Than 150 Words