Judging By Appearances

2 Corinthians 10:7 You are judging by appearances. (the Corinthians were judging Paul's standing as an apostle by their Greek standards of eloquence and imposing appearance, important qualities in their culture, but not the criteria for followers of Christ; we often judge others by appearances both through our cultural lens as well as through our own personal experiences, giving those with status and affluence greater deference and credibility, or giving those a wider berth who set off negative signals in us because of the lens of our own past negative connotations) If anyone is confident that they belong to Christ, (the Corinthians in their elevated view of themselves had misjudged Paul, being convinced by others, and themselves deceived, that Paul was not what he said because of his outward appearances and actions; as born-again believers, our confidence in Christ does not give us liberty to disparage others or their walk with the Lord by judging them by outward appearances) they should consider again that we belong to Christ just as much as they do. (rather, as Paul is asking the Corinthians to do, we need to consider others' relationships with Christ as authentic and as genuine as our own, knowing that our ability to judge is deeply limited; while we each walk out our experiences in Christ at different levels and at a different pace, our actions and attitudes need to match our words and align with His truths; no matter what others say today, we can walk in the sure confidence that our saving experience and call in Christ is no less than the mightiest apostle of Christ from the pages of Scripture; today He declares with a trumpet call that we belong to Him!) May the Lord richly bless you this day! Submitted by: Sally Shields