I reach into the box, with excitement, and I pull out one can. Then it was my brother, Bobs turn. I wonder what we got, what could be in this can? I was hoping for spaghetti O's but without a label, it could be just about anything.
My Dad worked at a grocery store when I was a kid, and every month they held a drawing in his store and the prize was a big box full of canned foods, minus the labels. These were the cans of food that they couldn't sell because they lost the labels or were damaged in some way. My dad won the box of food this particular month, so my mom let us kids chose one can each day, and as a kid, it was an adventure just picking out lunch.
We weren't poor, but far from rich, so this canned food surprise was a treat to us. Some of the items in the box were things that we normally couldn't afford to get. Today for lunch, it really didn't matter what I got, it was the thrill of the unknown, that made this so much fun. Would it be fruit or ravioli or maybe even chili today?
Jesus said in John 7:24. "Stop judging by mere appearances and make a right judgment."
Lately I have been relearning how I look at people. Society teaches us at a young age to rate people, fat, old, long hair, short hair. I might not know a person but I rate them according to what I see on the outside, and what I am learning is, that is not right. I shouldn't treat someone one way because they are wearing a suit and another way because they are wearing jeans and a t-shirt, one by the color of their skin or maybe because they have tattoos.
The thrill should be what I find inside each individual person and the adventure is in finding out what that person is all about.
Romans 14:10, "You then, why do you judge your brother? Or why do you look down on your brother? For we will all stand before God's judgment seat." It goes on to say in Romans 14:13, "Therefore let us stop passing judgment on one another."
So what Paul is saying in Romans, is approach new people as I approached the lable-less cans, with wonder, with excitement, after all isn't that the way you would want to be looked at?
