The new kid in school

I was in the 6th grade and my class was on its way to a field trip. The best thing about field trips was that we didn’t have to actually be at school. We were going to see a play; I don’t remember what it was called or even what it was about. But what I do remember was that we had to buddy up with a partner for the trip, so naturally I chose my best friend Matt. Everyone was paired up, except for one kid. His name was Erik; he was the new kid who had only been at the school for a few weeks. His clothes looked like they came from the Salvation Army, and he smelled like he hadn’t bathed in days. I was glad that he didn’t get put into our group, but then my friend Matt did something I did not expect in a million years. Matt asked Erik to come sit with us on the bus. I couldn’t believe it; I didn’t want to be seen with this loser. I whispered in Matt’s ear and told him how badly I didn’t want Erik in our group and all the reasons why. I thought I had pleaded my case very well, but I will never forget Matt’s response; “Well I gave you a chance when you were the new kid, and you turned out to be cool. So let’s give Erik a chance.” I was shocked! Turned out that when I was the new kid everybody thought the same about me, except for Matt, he gave me a chance. I was too judgmental and too focused on myself to reach out to another human being.

Jesus said in John 8:14-16 "You're right that you only have my word. But you can depend on it being true. I know where I've come from and where I go next. You don't know where I'm from or where I'm headed. You decide according to what you can see and touch. I don't make judgments like that. But even if I did, my judgment would be true because I wouldn't make it out of the narrowness of my experience but in the largeness of the One who sent me, the Father. That fulfills the conditions set down in God's Law: that you can count on the testimony of two witnesses. And that is what you have: You have my word and you have the word of the Father who sent me."

Too often we can look at a person’s outward appearance, or past mistakes and already decide for ourselves what their place in life is. But it’s not our job, that job belongs to God. But even God, the only one who has the right to judge, looks past all of that and offers grace and mercy. How will you show someone grace and mercy this week? Will you be able to look past someone mistake and offer grace?