Don’t judge a book by its cover

A businessman wrapped up his day and week in Manhattan. He was very tired as it had been a long and difficult week. He was glad the week was over, and looked forward to relaxing on his 45 minute train ride home. Just as he had settled in and had begun to relax, a man and three small boys boarded the train and sat in the seats in front of him. The boys were running around, talking loudly and in a somewhat frenzied state. The Father made no effort to control the boys and just sat there with his head down oblivious to what was going on around him. The businessman was fuming. The boys were getting louder and acting more and more wildly. They were pushing and shoving each other and arguing loudly. Finally the stress of it all combined with the long difficult week got to the businessman. He leapt to his feet and moved directly in front of the man and screamed in his face, “Why don’t you control these boys? Can’t you see how they are bothering everyone on this train?”
The man looked up and said, “I’m very sorry, I was distracted and just did not realize they were bothering anybody. He instructed the boys to sit down and be quiet. He then quietly explained that he had just left the hospital where their mother had died an hour ago. I was trying to figure out what I’m going to do now and just didn’t realize they were bothering you. The boys are good boys, and normally are well behaved, I guess they are just having difficulty dealing with the loss of their mother.” ………..Guess how that made the businessman feel?

This true story illustrates an important point that we all need to remember. It is extremely difficult, if not impossible, to know what anyone may be going through at any given time. We should not jump to conclusions, nor automatically assume the worst about someone. We simply cannot know what is going on in someone else’s life. God instructs us not to judge others in several places in the Bible. Maybe when next faced with a situation where we are tempted to judge someone harshly we can remember this story. Hopefully it will help us to remember this important lesson and perhaps prevent us from adding to someone else’s painful burdens.
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James 1:19
…Let every man be swift to hear,
slow to speak, slow to wrath;
for the wrath of man does not
produce the righteousness of God.
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On a personal note, I would kindly ask you to pray for me today as I have something very important going on in my life right now and I need all of the help I can get. I strongly believe in the power of individual prayer as well as the power of prayer of friends and fellow believers.
Thanks in advance!


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