Treating Others With Dignity & Care

Never treat anybody in a different way according to their outward appearance. James 2:1

You pay special attention to the one who is wearing the fine clothes, and say, "You sit here in a good place," and you say to the poor man, "You stand over there, or sit down by my footstool. - James 2:3

Treat others the same way you want them to treat you- Luke 6:31

All of us do it - don't we? If someone has an outward appearance that is pleasing to us - we treat them differently than if we don't like what we see. Here are some common ways that we judge people:

GENDER - Is the person male or female. Depending on our gender, we respond in different ways.

APPEARANCE - We discriminate often because of appearance. How do we judge people? Do we judge them immediately on how they look? How they dress? If a man has long hair and a beard - do we threat them different than if they were clean shaven? Do we judge a person based on how many body piercings or tattoos they have? Do we judge a person because they are wearing overalls rather than slacks and collared shirt?

FAMILY BACKGROUND - is another area we judge people. What is their family background? Who do they belong to?

RACE - What is their ethnic background? What is the color of their skin? What is the language that they speak?

AGE - How old are they? Are they from my generation - or are they too old or too young?

ACHIEVEMENT - We gush over winners and forget losers. One minute you're a hero - the next you're a zero.

WEALTH - This is the most common distinction around the world. Are you rich or are you poor? What is your economic status? What attitude do we have about people who have more money than us?

All of us judge others by a variety of factors. All of us show favoritism base on a variety of elements. Let us examine our hearts and analyze:

Ø How do we treat others?

Ø Why do we keep on judging others?

Ø What are the pride factors in us that keeps us think superior to others?

Our prayer should be -
God, help me to look at others and treat them in the same way that you treat them. Open my eyes to see other human being as your beloved child. Let me not haste to judge others by their age, family background, appearance, gender, race, achievement and wealth.