Keeping up Appearances

1 Samuel 16:7; Romans 14:13-18

As mentioned in this space a few days back, Jesus charged His disciples to not judge others, especially if those being judged don't embrace the same faith. Unfortunately, other people are still going to judge us every day. 

People judge us by how we dress, what we say and how we say it, what we drive, where we live,  whether we have tattoos or earrings, and the list goes on. God sees what is inside, but everyone else sees only the outer shell.

The apostle Paul wrote about a practice that was distressing to those in the early church. Many were concerned that eating meat that had been sacrificed to an idol was a sin. Paul applied the idea of loving one's neighbor, he didn't use that term, but the principle is there. If we really love others, we will watch out for them.

How we self-identify can affect others. While we may not find something offensive,  another person might. There's also the reality that others,  especially younger men and women who look up to us, may see waht we do, or how we dress and try to one-up us.

My son, for instance,  was with me when I popped my car up to 100 on the highway briefly,  just to test it out. When one has recently purchased a Jaguar (older model as it may be), it is quite the temptation. Later that week, my son posted on Facebook that he wanted his license so he could "cruise at 100" on the highway,  taking what I had done and figuring if that was ok, then constantly maintaining a higher-than-posted speed must be ok too. We had a little talk about that.

We're being watched.  What we say, how we behave, the people we routinely associate,  all of it has a direct connection to the effectiveness of our representation of Jesus Christ.