Thoughts from a member

As a child, did you ever see that weird looking kid sitting in the back of the class room? I mean that kid who always carried weird things in their pocket or always wore the same jacket every day. Maybe in high school there was that guy that never put on deodorant or looked like they never washed their hair. Most kids avoided sitting next to them or avoided talking to them altogether. They made fun of them or picked on them. While our reaction as an adult is to do as those kids did and avoid them, Gods reaction is to love them. John 15:17 says "These things I command you, that ye love one another." 

  Today I want you to think about a subject that has touched my heart and stepped on my toes. I hope it steps on yours as well. "Does your desires overcome your prejudice?" What I mean by that statement is does your desire to witness to others overcome your prejudice towards others? Plenty of times I have found myself walking into Wal-Mart, seeing someone with several piercings on their face or a tattoo sleeve up both arms and I think to my self, "avoid them, don’t make eye contact, and hold on tight to your purse." Maybe I see someone outside smoking a cigarette and I walk on the other side to avoid the smoke. Never once do I think to myself "do they know God like I do? " "have they taken a moment out of their life and asked God that one important question?" Matthew 7:1 says "Judge not, that ye be not judged" What right do we have to judge others? The only one that should be doing the judging is God. 

   I came across a little story that really hits the point. A young couple moved into a new neighborhood. One morning while they were eating breakfast, the young woman saw her neighbor hanging the washing outside. “That laundry is not very clean; she doesn’t know how to wash correctly. Perhaps she needs better laundry soap.” Her husband looked on, remaining silent. Every time her neighbour hung her washing out to dry, the young woman made the same comments. A month later, the woman was surprised to see a nice clean wash on the line and said to her husband, “Look, she’s finally learned how to wash correctly. I wonder who taught her this?” The husband replied, “I got up early this morning and cleaned our windows.” And so it is with life… What we see when watching others depends on the clarity of the window through which we look. So don’t be too quick to judge others, especially if your perspective of life is clouded by anger, jealousy, negativity or unfulfilled desires. 1 Samuel 16:7 - "But the LORD said unto Samuel, Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him: for [the LORD seeth] not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart. " 

   How we look at others should be through God's eyes, not our eyes. When we see that person with the cigarette in their hand or the tattoos up their arms, we should have the desire to walk up to them. We should want to strike up a conversation with them and invite them to church. When I worked at Wal-Mart, I had acquaintances who smoked, and cursed. But you know, because of how I treated them and respected them as a person they knew how I felt and respected me enough to not smoke or curse around me. Now, If I had created a bad testimony with them, if I had bashed them with scripture or not associated myself with them because of their life choices then I would not of gotten that respect. I would not have planted that seed. They also knew I was always open for conversation. When they had troubles going on in their life, I made sure I was there to help them through it, I made sure I told them that I would pray for them. I chose to use my love to talk to my advantage. How you live your life is how the world will see you. If you let your anger get the best of you, that's part of your testimony. My version of witnessing is setting a Godly example for how a Christian should be. I let my testimony do the talking. So whenever the door opened to give God's word, the relationship would be there, and I wouldn't be "shoving God's word down their throats so to speak". Love the sinner, hate the sin.  John 15:17 "These things I command you, that ye love one another" 

  

Thanks for reading!

Jessica Woodcock

Proverbs 3:5-6