I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing. John 15:5 KJV
As for me and my house, we shall serve the Lord
Years ago as a teenager, I made what I consider to be the "classic teenage mistake". With no more then just a look I had judged and labeled another girl...at church nonetheless! I looked at her fashionable clothes, her nicely done hair, her friendliness, and how well accepted she was by other kids and decided in an instant that she was "a snob". I, in all my teenage glory, decided that I wanted nothing to do with "her kind". I made every effort to avoid her, I would walk the other way when I saw her coming. I basically became what I had so rediculously thought she was....I became the snob! Because I felt she wasn't good enough to associate with me I tried to alienate her.
Much to my suprise, in a chance encounter we got to talking. I found out that I had been totally wrong about her. She wasn't snobby in the least. She was actually quite nice and friendly- to everyone, not just her social group (as I had assumed). There was a lesson in that day. A lesson that I still haven't forgotten!
My first and biggest mistake was assuming. I assumed that because she wore certain clothes, because she looked a certain way, because she had a certain group of friends, that obviously she was stuck on herself and obviously she thinks she is better then everyone! You know the old saying "if it smells like a duck, acts like a duck, and looks like a duck..it IS a duck". Living in my trumped up assumption I used my own evidence to convict and sentence her. In and of myself, I didn't want to give her a chance...after all I am so down to earth, I am just a humble christian girl that needs no part of her worldly life! It wasn't until I was forced to be face to face with her that I found out how wrong I was.
My second stupid mistake was allowing my assumptions to turn me into the very thing I was trying to avoid. Wanting so bad to keep up my image of the "good girl", I rejected what I percieved as "the bad girl". Wouldn't want any of her muddy life to ruin my sparkling image!
How many people in the world today do that very same thing?! How many will take one look at someone and already label them as misfit, unsuitable, not good enough, or whatever!
Dictionary.com defines "assume" : " take to be the case or to be true; accept without verification or proof".
Have you ever noticed how people always assume the worst? They see some guy covered in tatoos and automatically he is a "thug" or some kind of gang member. A young mother, barely an adult herself...oh she must sleep around just look at her! You never hear someone say, wow look at all those tatoos, I bet he is a great guy - lets go talk to him. She is so young to be dealing with so much, she must be in alot of pain, I wonder if we can help her out.
1 Corinthians 13:5 "Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil". This is speaking in reference to Love, what it does and does not do. Its not very "loving" to assume the worst in people. We are to "think NO evil" towards others.
At a young age I was lucky enough to learn this lesson, I guess you could say I learned it the easy way. Who knows how I would have continued treating that girl, had I not found out for myself just how wrong I was. What kind of person would I be now I had stayed convinced that all I needed was my own list of "trumped up charges" to condemn somebody else. That girl taught me a lesson without even realizing it.
Its not fair nor is is right, to reject people without cause. The not so old saying is true "when you assume....". You truly do yourself and others a no favors by being so closed minded and judgemental. God wants to bless you in ways you can't even imagine, but he may want to use someone you don't like. He may want to use someone you'd least expect, someone you wouldn't normally "associate" with. Don't let your own worldly thinking get in the way of that! Don't reject his blessings because you don't "approve" of the package! Don't assume, be willing to give people a chance....the greatest surprises in life are in the places, and people, that you'd least expect!