Judge Not According To Appearance
Does a person’s outward appearance necessarily always indicate who they are on the inside? On the one
hand, what a person wears does say something about a person. When you see a person in military uniform at the local mall, you immediately know that person is in the armed forces, and you can tell almost immediately in what particular military branch they serve. Furthermore, the way people generally dress who live in an urban area as opposed to the attire of those who live in smaller country towns is quite different and says something about the people who live in those different areas.
So, to a degree, our outward appearance does say something about us and about others. But, when it comes to outward appearances, we must understand and beware that our estimations of others based on such things are often subjective and therefore can be skewed and totally wrong. There have been two court cases where misjudgments of the way individuals “appeared” on the outside played a major role.
One of these cases took place here in Virginia and involved a young man who was convicted of taking indecent liberties with an underage young lady. After his trial, the young man’s attorney met with the members of the jury to find out how they had come to their decision of guilt. The jury members told the attorney that they convicted the young man not because they believed the testimony of the young lady, but rather they thought the young man “looked” guilty.
The second case took place in Arkansas approximately 15 years ago. This case involved three young men (note the article “The Place of Justice”), all three of whom were teenagers at the time, who were convicted of killing three eight-year-old boys.
Throughout the trials of these three young men, their manner of dress played a major factor as proof of evidence (in fact, it was about the only evidence) for their alleged guilt. Even in the closing arguments of the joint trial of two of the young men, one of the prosecutors referred to the older of the two men as not having a soul, an observation made partly on the basis of this individual’s choice of black attire.
Two of these young men’s trials are going on this week. Prayerfully prejudices will be put aside in this case, real evidence (“righteous judgment”) will be accepted, and all three of these men will be released.
When it comes to appearances, we should ask the question: are we acting as God would have us to act by having these types of thoughts? Should we just write people off based on the way they might dress? Or the way they may look? Let’s look to the Bible and see what is written regarding this matter.
In 1 Samuel 16:6-7, we read of how when Samuel was seeking out the one who would be the next king of Israel, he thought that Jesse’s oldest son Eliab, would be the one chosen due to his appearance. Yet, the Lord tells Samuel not to look on Eliab’s countenance or his height, for God had refused him. According to v. 7, the Lord does not see as man sees, for while man looks on the outward appearance, the Lord looks on the heart. If God looks at us and other people in this manner, what right do we have to judge others by their outward appearance alone? Is it not the case that what is on the inside of a person counts the most?
In John 7:24, Jesus states, “Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment.” We have the right to judge, but we are to do it righteously, not merely on the outward appearance of someone. We need to remember that that which is on the inside counts the most. Jesus condemned Jewish leaders of His day who had the right look on the outside but were full of corruption inwardly (Matthew 23:27-28). Paul would remind us that though our outward man perished, the inward man is renewed day by day (2 Corinthians 4:16). Keep in mind that while the outside of an oyster may appear rough and weathered, inside, it may contain a precious pearl.
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Doctrine, Michael Carter
on September 29th, 2008
