They are just different

While I was driving to work today, I began to think about the value of a man. It didn't quite come to me at first that way, but I began questioning why it is that we see some people as worth developing a relationship with and others we just write off and try not to even associate with.

I think to a certain extent it is something that we learn as a child. I remember in church learning how certain things were wrong and beginning to feel that if someone is doing something wrong then they are a bad person. We have all been taught at one time or another that there are bad people in the world right? Can that be right?

Something my wife challenged me to to try quite a while back was when we speak to our kids to make sure we communicate when they are in trouble that they made a bad decision not tell them they were being bad. It sounds weird and really makes you think because how often do we say things like that?

So I have both of those thoughts running around in my head and I remember something I read from one of Don Miller's books a while back. He gave the illustration of several different types of people being stranded on a life boat and ultimatly in order to survive one person must be thrown overboard. How do you decide who to through over? As we grow up we are taught some people, based on their jobs, their status, or their usefullness are worth more than someone else.

Anyway, now to get to the real point of it all. While thinking about this, I decided I want to challenge myself. I want to try and see how many times a day I pass judgment on someone else, just based on the little I know about them.









Example:

Kid at school is a bully and he picks on your kid. What is your first reaction? What are the thoughts that go through you head? How do you deal with it? Did you know the kid is bullied by his own parents and all he really wants is to feel worth while? Bad decision right, Not a bad person.

A man has a hard life without much support from his family. The man ends up in prision for a crime he commitsbut when he gets out he changes his friends, his surroundings, his habits, and starts over. Would you give him a job? Would you get to know him? Would you allow him to be around your kids? Bad decisions, not a bad person.

A girl has a rough life. Parents divorce while she is young and she feels like no one wants her. She makes a series of bad choices looking for love and acceptance and ends up with a kid with no one to help. She becomes a single mother and wants to do better, but doesn't know how. Do you help support her? Do you help her find a job? Do you show her love? Bad decisions, not a bad person.

It's amazing how many times we sterotype people and give them less of a value. Most would say a doctor, a teacher, or preacher have more value than any of these three examples. Is that the case? What makes them worth more? Didn't Christ die for all of us? Didn't He equate himself to the "least of these"?

I challenge you to look at how you view people. Do you pass judgment before you know someone? Are some worth more than others to you?

I know I am guilty of it....time to change....change in view.