“But the Lord told Samuel, “Don’t look at his appearance or how tall he is, because I have rejected him. God does not see as humans see. Humans look at outward appearances, but the Lord looks into the heart” (1 Samuel 16:7 God’s Word Translation©).

People form opinions of other people within seconds. What people wear, colour of skin, weight, hair style, age, and (critically) whether they remind us of someone and whether we like, or dislike, that person we know.

Before we have really met them, interacted with them, or they had a chance to display their real self to us, we have judged them!

God does not see any of the things we use as a standard to judge; God looks at their real self deep in their heart and soul.

We would want a chance to be accepted before we are judged, but we do not offer that to others.

“Always do for other people everything you want them to do for you. That is [the meaning of] Moses’ Teachings and the Prophets” (Matthew 7:12 God’s Word Translation©).

Think about that.

One of the things that strikes home as I have travelled this Lenten journey in the Suffer Ring is what constitutes persecution. Read more…

Where do I start?

Just the other day I checked an online map service to get the travel time to a work site. It became a metaphor for the way some religious people act. In the case of my map search, despite every attempt, it placed my home address nearly an hour to the west. Even when I entered the address by postal code the programme changed it back to the wrong one.

So I turned to a different service. It put my start point in the right place, but the route choices were wrong. The fastest route showed as the slowest. The time totalled over an hour. In reality it took about forty-five minutes.

The only place for a Christian to begin a life journey of time or education or growing up rests upon the Bible. Some would start with an opinion, or a feeling, or a doctrine or even a denominational tradition. But when you start at the wrong place, whether by seduction of a lie or indiscriminate obedience to human authority, surely the route and timing must be wrong.

Read more…