Information Related to "What Your Appearance Says About You"
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Recently I read a story about a man standing off to the
side, in front of a church, dressed in baggy, torn clothes, unshaven
and very unkempt. As the members went into the church, they had to pass
this man. Not one member stopped to greet the man. All ignored him and
looked the other way. The next week the pastor announced that he was
the man who had been in front of the church the previous week, dressed
in old clothes!
The minister then read James 2:2-4: "For if there should come into your
assembly a man with gold rings, in fine apparel, and there should also
come in a poor man in filthy clothes, and you pay attention to the one
wearing the fine clothes and say to him, 'You sit here in a good place,'
and say to the poor man, 'You stand there,' or, 'Sit here at my footstool,'
have you not shown partiality among yourselves, and become judges with
evil thoughts?"
Perhaps we have read this scripture before and know that we are not to favor the rich over the poor. But why did God inspire this scripture to be in the Bible? The previous illustration makes it clear that while God looks inside, at everyone's heart, we humans are generally only able to judge by what we see.
Because this example teaches us that we need to be careful not to assume we know others' character based on their appearance, some people don't think it matters how they appear to others. If someone says something about another's appearance, an angry retort often comes back saying, "Don't judge me! Who are you to decide how I should dress, wear my hair or appear to others? God doesn't care how I look because He looks on the heart!"
Related Information on UCG Sites:
Table of Contents that includes "What Your Appearance Says About You"
Other Articles by Janet Treadway
Modesty: