Elohim April 2015 | Page 17

is wearing his pants to low he is a thug. You think that you know who and what a person is or will become by their outer layer, but just as you peel away the outer layer of a onion to find the good, we sometimes have to do the same with people. The clothes and the look may be dark and ugly to you but the heart may be one of love and pleasing to God. We should always try to see others in the way that Jesus would see them and not in the way that the world sees them. When we look in a mirror it seems that we can never see our own blemishes but it is so easy to see those of others. The one thing that most have trouble doing is looking beyond the past of others. You will hear some stand up in church and thank God for bringing them to where they are. They will speak of who they were and the things they did, “but that was the old me” they say “now I am a new man in Christ.” But the same person cannot look past the end of their nose when someone else has turned their life around, they will always see their past and ridicule them to others. The very people who say they follow Jesus Christ sometimes can’t see someone the way He would see them. voice is my tool, I am not ridiculed for how I speak, but receive compliments instead. We must understand that the person you saw previously or see today is not the person of tomorrow unless that is what they choose to be, God has a path set for us and that path leads to His perfect plan if we will surrender to Him and allow Him to guide us. Look for the person on the inside of others and encourage them, plant a seed of hope and help them grow. If you know what God has done for you and how far He has brought you, then you must understand that He can do the same for that alcoholic, the drug addict, the drug dealer or the prostitute. God never said we had to be perfect for Him to use us, we just have to be willing, so before you stereotype someone, take some time and get to know them first, get to know the person on the inside.` “Assuredly, I say to you, no prophet is accepted in his own country.” Luke 4:24 As a young boy I endured a lot of ridicule from others due to a speech impediment, kids can be harsh with words when your blemishes are so easy to see. They could not see what God had planned for me, they could only see what was in front of them and not what God had already placed in my future. Today I have no speech impediment and my Page 17