Look Deeper

John 7:24  Look beneath the surface so you can judge correctly.

Steven Covey recalls riding on the New York subway one Sunday morning. It was a quiet time with many simply reading the paper, resting, or thinking quietly to themselves.

But the quiet was shattered when a man and his children entered the car Covey was sitting in. The man sat down and appeared impervious to the noisy and rambunctious children who began to disturb the other passengers.

After a few moments Covey could take it no longer. He turned to the man and said, "Sir, your children are really disturbing a lot of people. I wonder if you couldn't control them a little more?"

It brought the man back to consciousness of the situation, Covey goes on to say, which caused the father to say, "Oh, you're right. I guess I should do something about it. We just came from the hospital an hour ago where their mother died. I don't know what to think, and I guess they don't know how to handle it either."

Maybe making sure his kids were quiet wasn’t the most important thing to that man right then.

We are so good at snap judgments. We size people up and apply various labels to them, but how can we label somebody without meeting them? They may seem standoffish, but maybe if you looked deeper you would find an issue that explains them, and may also give you a chance to minister to them.

The next time you come up with a snap judgment on someone, try to look deeper. Just remember: hurt people hurt people. Instead of an enemy, you may walk away with a friend you have helped lead to God.

Today’s Readings: 2 Kings  23; 2 Chronicles  35; John  7

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