One of the more challenging issues that everyone deals with is the age-old “judging a book by its cover.” We understand what it means and, at one point or another, we have admonished someone for “judging the book by its cover.”

While there is a burden on all of us to make a concerted effort to avoid doing this, we can get drawn into this way of thinking when we see someone not behaving according to what we would consider social norms or having a style that is vastly different from our own. I know for myself when I see someone presenting themselves in a way that could easily be assumed they are part of a “biker gang” (no disrespect of bikers intended), I tend to unconsciously put them into a category that is less than complimentary.

This, of course, is not a new problem. But it is nevertheless important to make sure we are in control of our thoughts so that whatever judgments are made, are according to what we know and not what we think we know.

We see in scripture that even when Samuel was sent to anoint David as the next king of Israel that God instructed Samuel to not look at the outward appearance or “judge the book by its cover.” According to I Kings 16:6-7, David’s brother Eliab “looked” like a king but was not the material God was looking for. “Then it came about when they entered, that he looked at Eliab and thought, ‘Surely the Lord’s anointed is before Him.’ But the Lord said to Samuel, ‘Do not

look at his appearance or at the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for God sees not as man sees, for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.’”

There are many other examples of this kind of mistaken judging happening:

—Joseph’s brother’s disdain for his dreams

—Moses’s view of himself when he was called

—Saul’s view of himself when he was called

—Goliath’s scorn for David

—Gideon’s view of himself when he was called

—the view the Jews had of Jesus

As you can see from the above list, we can incorrectly judge ourselves as well as incorrectly judge others.

If we let this thinking prevail in our approach to others, we will miss opportunities that Jesus was all too eager to take advantage of. How many times was he found mingling with the outcasts and others considered worthless? Society had judged them, but certainly not with “righteous judgment.” “Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment” (John 7:24).

This passage is referring to the appearance the Pharisees were focused on, but the point stands, nevertheless.

James admonishes by reminding us of who responded to Jesus’ message first. “Listen my beloved brethren: did not God choose the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which He promised to those who love Him?” (James 2:5).

Years ago, I was with my brother going to a fast-food drive-thru before going on to my

uncle’s house just a few blocks away. As we were going to the window to order, a young man walked across in front of us which, by many standards, was unwise considering we could have hit him. He wasn’t belligerent about it, but he had an appearance I judged in my heart of being “some dumb punk” not paying attention. He had longer hair (strike one) and he was wearing a necklace (strike two) and he wasn’t being very careful where he was walking. (strike three and you are out) He went on his way, and we went on ours.

After collecting our food order, we headed on over to my uncle’s house. When we walked through the front door, who do you think was standing in the living room speaking to my uncle? You guessed it. The “dumb punk”! He had tracked my uncle down to tell him some amazing news. This young man had been my uncle’s neighbor several years before in another neighborhood. The influence of my uncle and his family with respect to God left an impression on this man to the extent that later he became a Christian and wanted to find my uncle to tell him the great news!

You can only imagine how very small I felt at this moment. I would like to believe that this moment left enough of an impression on me to cause me to at least hesitate before rendering judgments like this. But it is not a natural reflex. We must make a conscious decision to be fair and even-handed with everyone. Or another way of putting it, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”