At a glance …

About the only way to be surprised by what a stranger is really like is to first saddle him or her with pre-conceived ideas of their character.

It takes just a glance at a person we’ve never met to make snap decisions about them. Doing so may propel us to introduce ourselves, or cause us to avoid someone. The problem with reacting to people like this is we tend to put on others our own distortions.

There’s an ancient story about an old man who sat outside the walls of a great city. When travelers approached, they would inquire of the old man, “What kind of people live in this city?” The old man would answer, “What kind of people live in the place where you came from?” If the travelers answered, “Only bad people live in the place where we came from,” the old man would reply, “Continue on, you will only find bad people here.”

But if the travelers answered, “Good people live in the place where we came from,” then the old man would say, “Enter, for here too, you will find only good people.”

How we see people has more to do with the “eye” of the soul than the pupils we peer out from.

“Your eye is a lamp that provides light for your body. When your eye is good, your whole body is filled with light. But when your eye is bad, your whole body is filled with darkness. And if the light you think you have is actually darkness, how deep that darkness is!” Matthew 6:22-23.

Often, we try to look at others with obstructed vision.

“And why worry about a speck in your friend’s eye when you have a log in your own? How can you think of saying to your friend, ‘Let me help you get rid of that speck in your eye,’ when you can’t see past the log in your own eye? Hypocrite! First get rid of the log in your own eye; then you will see well enough to deal with the speck in your friend’s eye,” Matthew 7:3-5.

In a single sentence, Jesus provides us with direction for drawing any kind of conclusions: “Look beneath the surface so you can judge correctly,” John 7:24.

Exteriors are often outward disguises instead of credible reflections of interiors. It’s only by getting beneath the surface of a person that we can accurately understand what is there, and who they really are.

How do you treat others: do you react to exteriors, or look beneath the surface so you can respond to interiors?

Scotty