A life lesson learned

You would think that I as a believer in Christ would know better! I am sure that many of you know the verse in the Bible that says:

“Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.” Matthew 7:1-2

Another well known quote but not from the Bible is: “You can’t judge a book by its cover! A title of a book and a picture to go with it tries to entice the buyer to purchase the book. Now you are interested in reading the author’s description on the inside cover. Perhaps you have read other books by the same author and you just know this is going to be another exciting story that draws you in to the story so you go ahead and make a purchase.You just don’t know what you are getting into.

Sometimes in life we make an automatic decision to judge a person by the clothes they wear, by their age or by their race or color. Reporter Brian Broome from the Tampa Bay Times in Florida on March 6 writes: “Millions of Americans (could be Canadians as well, in my opinion) believe that the color of my skin makes me less a human being. Less intelligent. Less trustworthy. Less worthy in general. These Americans (or Canadians) exist from sea to shining sea and they are not always white or male. They are everywhere. In every occupation.”

He further adds: ”When I tell white people these stories, they immediately start to look for the flaws in my narrative. They create a version of the story that minimizes what happened. They do this not to make me feel better but to make themselves feel better to ensure that their idea of America (or could I add Canada) as a non racist meritocracy stays unassailable in their minds.”

In Matthew’s gospel, Jesus asks: “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?” (Matt. 7:3) I think the answer to this question that Jesus posed is that we don’t consider ourselves to have this problem. Yes, it applies to others and we unanimously agree to that conclusion but fail to take the time to sincerely look within to see how this applies to us as well.

I learned a valuable lesson in an IHOP restaurant in Cocoa Beach, Florida while waiting to embark on our cruise. It was last Saturday morning, Feb. 26 and we had gone to this restarant to have breakfast. The place was crowded and as we were being ushered to our seats, I noticed an older man sitting alone in a booth in a far corner of the room. The clothes he was wearing made me think perhaps he was homeless. It was just a passing thought as we took our seats in the booth next to him. After a while I detected an unpleasant odor emanating from nearby and mentioned this to Shirley.

The story continues and I thought nothing more until this gentleman got up and left the restaurant perhaps thinking that he did not have a place to go to. (Judging a book by its cover, maybe?) When it came time to pay our breakfast bill, the waitress told us that our bill had already been paid. “Really,” I said, “who would do this as no one in the dining room would know us from Adam?” She was hesitant to tell me but I just wanted to know what kind and caring person would do this for us at the beginning of our own adventure. She pointed to the older man who had just left and who had sat in the corner booth behind us.

Then as she brought the bills to three other tables of customers near us, the same thing happened to them upon discovery that the same man had also paid for their bills. Ten people that morning had their breakfast bills paid by this kind and very generous man who wanted to do something for others without expecting any praise whatsoever.

I personally felt very ashamed that I had wrongly judged this man and it was a lesson I would never forget. I confess to you all that God was teaching me a lesson. I needed to have an humbling experience. By the time I got out of the restaurant, the man was gone and it was too late to thank him.

Jesus said, “You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye. (Matt: 7:5) I prayed for forgiveness and many days later, I still think of that generous man whom I had misjudged by his appearance. Could he have been an angel in disguise? How do you misjudge others?

“Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a stedfast spirit within me.” (Psalm 51:10) May we all desire to have the mind of Christ as we look to and think of others in our daily walk. Blessings to each of you today.