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You Cannot Judge a Book by Its Cover
Robin Williams died on August 11, 2014. Investigators found a belt around his neck and gashes on his left wrist. He was 63 years old. While some of his movies were inappropriate and his humor could be vulgar, he could also be very funny. But what was going on inside his head (thinking) and his heart was not funny. He was hurting and in pain.
Paul wrote: “For through the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think; but to think so as to have sound judgment, as God has allotted to each a measure of faith” (Romans 12:3).
Self-deception is the easiest form of deception and the most deadly form. We can fool ourselves and we can fool others around us. What is visible on the outside is not always the same thing as what is found on the inside.
Perhaps you knew of guys or girls in high school or college who were attractive, athletic, even popular on the outside. But on the inside, they might have been lonely, or hateful and rude, or angry with life.
Hollywood is the epitome of this type of lifestyle. They go to parties and appear on TV to receive their accolades, Grammys, and Emmys. But in the privacy of their personal lives, they are drug addicts, suffer from broken marriages, throw tantrums, spend their money like drunken sailors, have eating disorders, and are just a step away from death.
But their hypocrisy is a reflection of our own, too often, hypocrisy. Having lived in a different country for 7 1/2 years, I know for certain that human beings are all the same. We speak different languages and come in different shapes and sizes. We have different educational levels and different income levels. In some ways, we think differently, act differently, and speak differently.
But in a real way, those differences are all superficial. Underneath the external appearances, we are just like each other. Sometimes we don’t talk the way we should. Or we don’t behave the way we should. Or we have attitudes we should not express.
So it is that Paul tells us to recognize we have received grace from God so that we should not think more highly of ourselves than we ought. Instead, we should think soberly according to the measure of faith God has given to us.
And be gracious with others. Because we don’t know what is going on in their heart or mind.
Paul Holland
