Today's Scripture:
God told Samuel, "Looks aren't everything. Don't be impressed with his looks and stature. I've already eliminated him. God judges persons differently than humans do. Men and women look at the face; God looks into the heart."
1 Samuel 16:7
Jock.Geek. Queen bee, Stoner. Snob. If you can figure out what category to stick a person in, that's all you need to know. Or is it? Categories or clicks don't tell you anything about what's inside a person. And yet that's who a person really is. Heart, character, soul ~ they're all on the inside. The inside is what God sees when he looks at a person.
When the prophet Samuel went to Jesse's house looking for the next king of Israel, he put young David in the same categories that David's family put him in; the little brother, the shepherd boy, certainly no king. But God told Samuel to look again. In David's heart, God saw the man who would lead his people to greatness.
Sure, it's hard ~ maybe even impossible ~ to see what's inside another person. But that's the point. When you put people in a category, you've written them off, as if you've got them all figured out: she fits in Category X, so I know she's going to do this, believe that, and feel that other thing. But people are never that simple. On the inside, they're just as complicated as you are.
So be careful when you dismiss another person with a flippant "I know his type." Samuel and Jesse and David's brothers thought they knew David's type, but he was one in a million. So are you. So is everybody you've ever known.
Selah people' and friends; today I challenge us to pick one of the social groups at your school or in our community or at work ~ pick one of the groups that you think you really "know their type." Commit to get to know at least one of those people as an individual...as the child of God that they were created to be.
"His peace I leave with you and ask that when your really getting to know these children of God that you pass it on to them."
Your pastor,
Rev Muston ~ (PreacherPatrick)
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