I just recently heard a story from a man who hosted Proskuneo at his church’s missions conference back in 2010. He shared that the first morning, while we were warming up before the service, 3 different people from his congregation approached him. They were concerned that some of the guys in our group had long hair…and spiky hair…and chains hanging from their pants.
They were appalled that this man would invite us to lead in worship at their church, and they were bracing themselves for what would happen during the service. Our host said wisely, “I know their hearts, and let’s pray that God would use them in our midst this morning.” And that was the end of that.
We went on to lead worship in the morning service (I am glad I didn’t know that so many people were skeptical!). There was a very sweet time of declaring God’s greatness among the nations…singing in a variety of languages and cultural expressions…and recognizing God’s presence among us. After the service, all three of the people who had approached our host before the service made a point to find him again. Each one apologized for making quick judgments based on outward appearances and told how grateful they were for the way the Lord met us in worship that morning.
1 Samuel 16:7 “The LORD does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.”
How have you made quick, wrong judgments based on outward appearances?
How can we get to know each others hearts better?