We are all familiar with the expression to ‘judge a book by its cover’ and are familiar with its meaning. We understand that you cannot judge a book by what it looks like; you need to ‘read’ the book to make an accurate assessment of the book. This translates to people, we cannot judge a person by their outward appearance, not by their ethnicity, their wealth (or lack of it), not by their dress, not by their accent or by any other outward characteristics. You need to get to know the person before you can say what kind of person they are.
It is true that the outward appearance can give indicators of what the person is like, but it is fallible, it is NOT accurate and you may be totally incorrect in your assessment about the person based solely on their outward appearance.
In the Bible we have some examples of this. On the cross with Jesus there was a thief, self confessed. What would your reaction be to such a person? Would you have welcomed him into your home? Jesus told him that he would be in Paradise when he died. I know I would not have given him a chance of going to Heaven, I did not know his heart, and obviously Jesus did!
A sinner came to Jesus and washed his feet with her tears and her hair, anointing his feet with fragrance, tears and kisses! (Luke 7:36-50)The Pharisee looked down on her with disdain; Jesus looked into her heart and forgave her of her sins. Did he know what kind of woman she was? Of course, but he could also look inside and see what we overlook, he saw her heart and her repentance.
We need to learn from these examples and NOT judge people by their appearance. We need to give people a chance, this is NOT easy, we have to overcome a lifetime of prejudice, what other people think and look solely at the person concerned. We need to pray to be more Christ like in all we do, think and say!
Once again, we do not intend to ‘run’ your life for you. The choices are yours to make, but you need to know all of the facts to make a good decision. Do not just accept what has been written, read the scriptures for yourselves and see what God has said.