How often do you judge others by appearances and first encounters with them? Because we’re going to be leaving soon and moving to a new area, I’ve been thinking a lot about the prospect of meeting new people. I know an inherited trait I have is that I am always been quick to sum people up and form judgments about others. Years ago, when I became a leader at a BSF interdenominational bible study group, I had one woman come into the group. Sad to say my first impression was, ‘this woman is a nut.’
Over time, the Lord showed me another side to this woman. She came into the group from a church background – a church where attendance was expected each week but where the Bible was never opened. Then, someone convinced her to come to Bible study. At the time she didn’t even own a Bible but borrowed one so she could do her questions. But from the time she opened that Bible and started that study in John’s gospel her life changed. She soon bought her own Bible.
In all the years I’ve been involved in Bible study groups, I have never seen anyone with such a yearning to understand God’s Word. Even if she didn’t understand the question or what the Bible was saying, she did her best to decipher it. Her answers were fresh, thoughtful, insightful and LONG. Though the study allowed only a small space to answer each question, she arrived each week at study with pages and pages of answers written for each question. In the end I convinced her, while it was great that the Lord was teaching her so much from his word, (and He certainly was) in fairness to everyone else, she needed to condense her answers for the group to fit that space allowed.
Often over the weeks I rang to see how she was getting on with the questions and spent a lot of time with her on the phone. Other times she rang me to impart a special truth she had learned and couldn’t wait to share.
I had the privilege of seeing that women go from being a church goer, to one committed to the daily study of God’s Word. She couldn’t wait to read God’s Word and see what God had to say to her. Her enthusiam put a lot of the rest of us to shame. Over time, I had the privilege of seeing God at work in her life changing her. At the same time He was changing me and my attitudes.
By the time I left that group when we moved from Sydney, this woman had become the most precious person and someone from who I learned a lot. When I think of her now, it’s with joy and love. She is a constant reminder to me not to make snap judgments about people, as we never know who they are or who they can be when God gets hold of them. Maybe it’s something you need to remember too.
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