When someone walks by you, do you automatically judge them? Do you think wow they look like a _______________ (insert whatever word you would like in the blank). Do not get me wrong I have often had these same thoughts but as I was walking in my neighborhood today and as I was driving around Abilene today, I started to notice the people around me.
These people have stories, a name, and someone who loves them. Even if these people have no one they still have God. They are a creation God created. Sure, they may have made some really bad choices in their lives but he still loves them.
If you are a parent and your child messes up do you just decided to forget about them and pretend they no longer exist. In most cases, I think that is not how a parent responds. I think most parents would try to work though whatever mess their child was in and at the end of the day they would still love that child. That is how I believe God sees us. His child who may sometimes make mistakes but his love is far greater than our mistakes. After all, he sent his son to dies on the cross to carry our sins (mistakes) to the grave! There in the grave, our sins died and Christ no longer sees them. He sees the good and the beautiful creature he created.
What if we as people started looking at other people through the eyes of Christ, not seeing the bad in people and trying to focus only on the good in people. What would happen? I think our world would be a different place maybe even a better place.
I also think about different situations that I have been in where maybe the clerk wasn’t so nice to me when I walked in that store or maybe my waitress was really rude and didn’t give me the attention I deserved. Maybe there is more to that story. Maybe that clerk and waitress just lost their house because they could no longer afford to pay rent but they had to come to work to make some type of living, or maybe they had someone really close to them die. On the other hand, maybe its something small like the last person they helped that day was a total jerk to them and now they are taking it out on you. You never know what might be going on in someone’s life and maybe it is what is behind the scenes that you can’t see that is making them act the way they are or maybe they are just grouchy, whatever the reason I still think that you should treat them as you would treat a friend.
Next time you see someone (anyone) be nice and treat them as Jesus would. After all, you have no idea what they are going through and you being nice to them might be the best thing that happened to them all week.
I am not saying I am great at this but this is something that I want to try and do better. I have been out in several areas of Abilene over the last few months and I have learned that there are many people who I feel are being over looked or just not noticed. There are tons of people suffering right here at home in our own city and when you take the time to be nice to them and listen to their story it makes a world of difference. They realize that someone cares and is taking time to listen to them. You might not have all the right words or know exactly how to help them but sometimes they just need a friend to listen to what is going on.
Be nice to the people you come in contact with today. You never know they might end up being more of a blessing to you than you were to them.
