Judge Not By Sight

I’ve heard some stuff in recent times about “You are what you do.” This is a true saying to some extent, and it is also an erroneous saying to some extent. Sound confusing? It’s not really, it’s just that everything isn’t necessarily black and white when it comes to why people are doing what they’re doing, and whether they really want to be doing what they’re doing. I think it is more perfect to say that “You are what you’re heart is.” What I’m trying to say is that there are a lot of people with wonderful hearts who at this moment in time are not doing very wonderful things. Don’t misunderstand me, I’m not saying that anyone is going to be saved if they depart from this life in sin, regardless of what kind of heart they have underneath it all. It is also evident that everyone will be judged in the end according to what they were doing while in this life (Ecc; 12:13; II Cor. 5:10; Rev. 20:12; etc.). But what I will say is that the folks with honest hearts will most likely come to where they need to be before they do depart from this life, because they really want to be right. I’ve seen it too many times; people who have the right kind of heart being in the wrong kind of spiritual state, and getting things righted eventually. There are circumstances that have a way of manifesting and bringing out what is really inside of a person, regardless of what they are doing on the outside. God explained to the great prophet Samuel that man looks on the outward appearance, but God looks on the heart (I Sam. 16:7). I write often about the woman who washed the feet of Jesus with her tears, and dried them with her hair; but it’s just because she is such a stellar example of a lot of things that pertain to the love of God, and to the hearts of men [and women]. She was not a woman who had been practicing a wholesome lifestyle by any means, but when Jesus came along manifesting the love, and holiness, and life-changing power of God, it brought out what was really in her (Lk. 7:36-50).

Had Jesus held the idea that everyone is ‘what they are doing,’ then he wouldn’t have given that pathetic woman a chance, because to that point she had not done much good. That was in fact the view that the Pharisees whom he was eating with had of the woman. It was that mindset that compelled them to say, “This man, if he were a prophet, would have known who and what manner of woman this is that toucheth him: for she is a sinner.” They were right that she was a sinful woman, and even she knew that. But she saw Jesus as her only hope to escape that condition, and she was absolutely right! The Pharisees were absolutely wrong, because they did NOT see Jesus as their only hope, and because they weren’t looking to get out of sin. They were also wrong because they were judging the woman according to the appearance of what kind of life she had lived. Jesus clearly commanded us not to do that: “Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment” (Jn. 7:24). That admonition goes hand in hand with what God told Samuel about man looking at the outward appearance of things, but God looking on the hearts. The point is that we can’t decide that someone is necessarily what they are presently doing because God may see them as being someone who is going to come to the right thing, because they have a good heart underneath the wrong that they are doing. God has given me a distinct gift to be able to see past what people are on the outside, and to see what kind of heart they have. Of course I don’t see these things as clearly or as completely as he does, but what I do see is a very small portion of the way he sees people. I doubt that I would trade that gift with anything because it genders to having a merciful spirit toward a lot of people that others may see as not being worth their time and effort. That immoral woman who washed Jesus’ feet with her tears was seen that way by the Pharisees, but Jesus saw her as being altogether worthwhile of his time and effort. Personally I don’t want to misjudge one of Jesus’ presently tarnished jewels because I can’t see past the taint to know that it is a jewel. Amen.