“Do not judge by appearances, but judge with right judgment.”” (John 7:24, ESV)
Jill was excited about having Trevor in her life. The two met in college. At a party for people interested in Shakespeare, the two happened to sit next to each other. When the instructor asked people to pair off with the person next to them to discuss aspects of Romeo and Juliet, the two began to discuss the issues and ideas at work in Shakespeare’s play. Both were surprised at how easily they communicated their ideas and how aligned were their judgments of the concepts used in the play. Not long after, the two went out for coffee, then their first real date.
After several months of dating, Jill brought Trevor home for the Thanksgiving Holiday. Spending time off with Trevor was a joy. Having the weekend together at her home was icing on the cake. That is, until Jill’s father got involved. Right off, Jill’s father, Donny, spoke gruffly to Trevor. Instead of his usual smiling self, Donny seemed sullen and ill-tempered. Nothing seemed to go right on that weekend. It very much bothered Jill.
In mid-December, Jill decided to talk to her father about Trevor. The coolness between Trevor and her father bothered Jill greatly. When she came home to visit the week before finals to have a weekend of rest, she asked her father, “Why did you act so poorly around Trevor? What did he do to you?”
Donny’s response was simply, “From the moment we met, I just didn’t like him. My first impression was that he felt entitled. I thought you deserved better than a prissy, self-centered, self-interested college boy”.
Jill’s retort was scathing, “You only knew him for a few minutes and already judged him unworthy! Thanks, Dad! Thanks so much! I thought you loved me?”
You might view Donny’s actions as severe. You might look at Donny’s quick judgment and consider him biased, unfair, or harsh. These may all be true. But are there times you judge a person based on first impressions? Do you look at a person and judge their worthiness based on initial appearances?
I’ve met people who judged a woman as trash based on her dress. There are those who write off a job applicant because of the label on his clothes. I’ve seen youth reject the friendship of a person who did not fit certain criteria or have certain attributes. Even among Christians there are distinctions made because of first impressions. At a church meeting, a woman approached me asking that I personally invite a new family in the neighborhood to worship. She had never done this before, so I asked her why this specific family. She told me without reservation that they were wealthy, and the church needed good givers! So, if the family wasn’t wealthy, would she have said nothing about a visit?
It is all too easy to bias yourself for or against someone from a first impression, an initial meeting, a word of gossip, or a personal interest. Thankfully, God doesn’t judge you and me using the same criteria! God doesn’t look at initial appearances in judging one’s heart. God doesn’t measure a person’s character by the clothes one wears or the family in which one was born! God takes the time to look deeply into a person’s heart and soul and mind to determine their true character.
When Jesus healed a man on the sabbath as written in John chapter 7, some religious leaders became upset. They deemed Jesus as a lawbreaker who dared to violate the commandment not to work on the Sabbath Day. Though Jesus did a wonderful thing by healing the man, though Jesus’ act was a work of God, they only took offense. From their first moments, they deemed Jesus unlawful and unfaithful and deserving of harsh criticism. Jesus’ response to these religious people was “Do not judge by appearances, but judge with right judgment” (John 7:24). Jesus saw their obvious bias. They had judged Jesus unworthy employing shallow standards. They wrote off Jesus’ miracle because of their own simplistic first impressions.
When the New Living Translation of this verse of John was included in the NLT Bible, they worded it slightly differently. The words they chose conveyed a more modern use of language to get Jesus’ point across. In John 7:24 of the New Living Translation of the Bible, Jesus tells the religious people who took offense at Him, “Look beneath the surface so you can judge correctly.” (John 7:24, NLT). That’s precisely the problem with these people who criticized Jesus. They didn’t take the time to “look beneath the surface”. They were quick to condemn. Their first impressions were flawed.
Your first impressions can get you in a lot of hot water. Upon initial observation, your understanding of a situation may be flawed. Upon entering a room, you may initially mistake the conversation that went on before you got there. When meeting a person for the first time, you won’t know that person’s character or deeply held beliefs. Don’t ever be so prideful as to judge a person by first impression alone!
Some issues of the faith and some people aren’t as easy to interpret from quick first impressions. It’s hard to understand a person’s motivations or limitations or thoughts or ideals based on a few quick bits of conversation. In the same way, a scripture may appear upon first inspection to say one thing when in fact it is saying something much deeper, much more profound. If you approach your reading of scripture relying only on a quick read, realize that you might be missing very important aspects of faith!
A perfect example of this is when Jesus spoke in parables. When Jesus taught about the sower who went out to sow seed, farmers who heard his words might have assumed Jesus was speaking about growing food. Jesus was not! He was actually speaking about the spiritual growth of faithful and faithless people! Even Nicodemus, a learned Jewish authority figure, misunderstood Jesus’ words upon first hearing them. When Jesus talked about being “born again”, Nicodemus asked Jesus how he could ever “go back into his mother’s womb” (John 3:2-4)! Jesus wasn’t talking about physical rebirth but spiritual rebirth. Nicodemus had to dig deeper to spiritually unpack the meaning of Jesus’ words.
If you want to be truly faithful, you will often have to dig deeper to your understanding of life from God's point of view! You can’t just read scripture; you have to study it! You shouldn’t just listen to scripture stories but meditate on them! Even when you pray, you will need to look more deeply at your conversations with God. A prayer full of a long list of wants and desires may not be what God wants to hear from you. Shallow recitations of prayers might not cut it! God doesn’t want you to be a shallow believer! That will only cause you to miss so much of the depth of understanding that comes with a deeper faith! To have a great relationship with God, you need to take the time to get to know God and put forth the effort to move past first impressions in life.
Have there been times when your first impressions were wrong? Are there moments when your faith is a little too shallow? You can’t have wisdom without taking the time to plumb the depths of God’s understanding. You will never grow in faith without looking past “appearances”, “beneath the surface” to God’s perspective!
After several months of dating, Jill brought Trevor home for the Thanksgiving Holiday. Spending time off with Trevor was a joy. Having the weekend together at her home was icing on the cake. That is, until Jill’s father got involved. Right off, Jill’s father, Donny, spoke gruffly to Trevor. Instead of his usual smiling self, Donny seemed sullen and ill-tempered. Nothing seemed to go right on that weekend. It very much bothered Jill.
In mid-December, Jill decided to talk to her father about Trevor. The coolness between Trevor and her father bothered Jill greatly. When she came home to visit the week before finals to have a weekend of rest, she asked her father, “Why did you act so poorly around Trevor? What did he do to you?”
Donny’s response was simply, “From the moment we met, I just didn’t like him. My first impression was that he felt entitled. I thought you deserved better than a prissy, self-centered, self-interested college boy”.
Jill’s retort was scathing, “You only knew him for a few minutes and already judged him unworthy! Thanks, Dad! Thanks so much! I thought you loved me?”
You might view Donny’s actions as severe. You might look at Donny’s quick judgment and consider him biased, unfair, or harsh. These may all be true. But are there times you judge a person based on first impressions? Do you look at a person and judge their worthiness based on initial appearances?
I’ve met people who judged a woman as trash based on her dress. There are those who write off a job applicant because of the label on his clothes. I’ve seen youth reject the friendship of a person who did not fit certain criteria or have certain attributes. Even among Christians there are distinctions made because of first impressions. At a church meeting, a woman approached me asking that I personally invite a new family in the neighborhood to worship. She had never done this before, so I asked her why this specific family. She told me without reservation that they were wealthy, and the church needed good givers! So, if the family wasn’t wealthy, would she have said nothing about a visit?
It is all too easy to bias yourself for or against someone from a first impression, an initial meeting, a word of gossip, or a personal interest. Thankfully, God doesn’t judge you and me using the same criteria! God doesn’t look at initial appearances in judging one’s heart. God doesn’t measure a person’s character by the clothes one wears or the family in which one was born! God takes the time to look deeply into a person’s heart and soul and mind to determine their true character.
When Jesus healed a man on the sabbath as written in John chapter 7, some religious leaders became upset. They deemed Jesus as a lawbreaker who dared to violate the commandment not to work on the Sabbath Day. Though Jesus did a wonderful thing by healing the man, though Jesus’ act was a work of God, they only took offense. From their first moments, they deemed Jesus unlawful and unfaithful and deserving of harsh criticism. Jesus’ response to these religious people was “Do not judge by appearances, but judge with right judgment” (John 7:24). Jesus saw their obvious bias. They had judged Jesus unworthy employing shallow standards. They wrote off Jesus’ miracle because of their own simplistic first impressions.
When the New Living Translation of this verse of John was included in the NLT Bible, they worded it slightly differently. The words they chose conveyed a more modern use of language to get Jesus’ point across. In John 7:24 of the New Living Translation of the Bible, Jesus tells the religious people who took offense at Him, “Look beneath the surface so you can judge correctly.” (John 7:24, NLT). That’s precisely the problem with these people who criticized Jesus. They didn’t take the time to “look beneath the surface”. They were quick to condemn. Their first impressions were flawed.
Your first impressions can get you in a lot of hot water. Upon initial observation, your understanding of a situation may be flawed. Upon entering a room, you may initially mistake the conversation that went on before you got there. When meeting a person for the first time, you won’t know that person’s character or deeply held beliefs. Don’t ever be so prideful as to judge a person by first impression alone!
Some issues of the faith and some people aren’t as easy to interpret from quick first impressions. It’s hard to understand a person’s motivations or limitations or thoughts or ideals based on a few quick bits of conversation. In the same way, a scripture may appear upon first inspection to say one thing when in fact it is saying something much deeper, much more profound. If you approach your reading of scripture relying only on a quick read, realize that you might be missing very important aspects of faith!
A perfect example of this is when Jesus spoke in parables. When Jesus taught about the sower who went out to sow seed, farmers who heard his words might have assumed Jesus was speaking about growing food. Jesus was not! He was actually speaking about the spiritual growth of faithful and faithless people! Even Nicodemus, a learned Jewish authority figure, misunderstood Jesus’ words upon first hearing them. When Jesus talked about being “born again”, Nicodemus asked Jesus how he could ever “go back into his mother’s womb” (John 3:2-4)! Jesus wasn’t talking about physical rebirth but spiritual rebirth. Nicodemus had to dig deeper to spiritually unpack the meaning of Jesus’ words.
If you want to be truly faithful, you will often have to dig deeper to your understanding of life from God's point of view! You can’t just read scripture; you have to study it! You shouldn’t just listen to scripture stories but meditate on them! Even when you pray, you will need to look more deeply at your conversations with God. A prayer full of a long list of wants and desires may not be what God wants to hear from you. Shallow recitations of prayers might not cut it! God doesn’t want you to be a shallow believer! That will only cause you to miss so much of the depth of understanding that comes with a deeper faith! To have a great relationship with God, you need to take the time to get to know God and put forth the effort to move past first impressions in life.
Have there been times when your first impressions were wrong? Are there moments when your faith is a little too shallow? You can’t have wisdom without taking the time to plumb the depths of God’s understanding. You will never grow in faith without looking past “appearances”, “beneath the surface” to God’s perspective!