Two things happened over winter that have stuck in my mind. The first incident was when as I was coming home from church, I wasn't far from home when I had a TIA (mini stoke), I clung on to a wall to steady myself and waited until I felt better before just going round the corner to my home. A gentleman was walking towards me when this happened and looked at me in a rather strange way, he didn't ask if I was alright, he didn't offer any assistance at all but looked rather in disgust. I can only surmise that he thought I had had one to many drinks and that I was finding it hard to walk in a straight line. Needless to say I did get home safe and sound and rested.
The other incident was when I was going for a walk after the bad snow storms, the snow had actually gone what I didn't know was that there were patches of black ice on the Greenway just past the bridge at Marehay. As usual I was going at a steady pace, best foot forward and all that, and as I came off the bridge down I went, I didn't see the ice at all, I had noticed someone walking their dog behind me but they were a distance away. There was no way I could get straight up I had gone down with such force it had rattled all my poor old bones, so I decided I would just sit and wait and if help didn't come then I would try to get up. I noticed at the side of me that something had fallen off my camera in the fall and as I stretched out to retrieve I heard someone shout, "sit still we're coming". How lovely someone was coming to my aid, I did as I was told and sat still till they arrived to help me up. Apparently they hadn't seen my fall but had noticed that someone was just sitting in the middle of the path but what struck me was that they didn't make a rash judgement but were prepared to help. These two incidents made me think about how as Christians we view other people and also how they view us.
We are not supposed to judge people the way the world does, and we are not to judge the people who are in the world but show them the love of Christ, but there are times when we have to make a judgment but it is not our job to condemn but to help. Galatians 6:1 Brethren, if a man is overtaken in any trespass, you who are spiritual restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness, considering yourself lest you also be tempted. We should not be into finger pointing we never know what will befall us, but we should pray and guide them through the scriptures, 2 Timothy 3:16 All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.
The first incident reminded me of how we Christians appear to the people of the world, or more to the point how we should appear to the world, Paul in his epistle to the Thessalonians wrote, 1 Thessalonians 5:22 Abstain from all appearance of evil. So not only are we to abstain from evil, but we are not even to give the appearance of it, the gentleman in the first incident had no idea I was ill and appeared to make a judgement that I was a little worse the wear for drink, (I do hope I have not misjudged him). We should be careful in our speech, in what we listen to, watch and read, we should be careful not to laugh at course jokes etc. Our whole attitude should be one of grace, that you may say is a tall order but we are as the scripture says to grow in grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus. And with the help and guidance of the Holy Spirit we can not only give the appearance of holiness but be holy.
