Judge a Book by its Cover

I was shocked to overhear a conversation between two co-workers a few days ago regarding appearances and attitudes. My two fellow lifeguards were discussing the attitude and appearance of two people, two that I knew personally. Although they had never talked to these people before, they were saying that the two seemed to be self-absorbed, disdainful, and unappreciative. They gathered all this information simply from facial expression, clothing, and the way the two acted. 

This situation got me thinking on multiple levels. It also shocked me, and raised a giant concern in my mind.

Now, a lot of people would use this situation to show how mankind has fallen to a whole new level, one where we simply judge people by looking at them. The old cliche "Don't judge a book by its cover" no longer matters in society. All of the work people have put in to try and stop this judgement has not worked. Personally, I say just accept it. It's part of our fallen nature to judge people. Of course, Christians are in a different boat. We are supposed to judge in a different way, and definitely not in this kind of way. My statement revolves around the non-believers. They are simply never going to stop judging UNTIL they become Christians. Anyways, that wasn't the issue for me.

I knew these two people, and I knew that my co-workers description was completely off. What was even more shocking for me was the fact that these two people were Christians. Don't see the issue with this yet? Here's why it is a major concern;

We as Christians are supposed to be drawing people to the Lord, not scaring them away. How can we evangelize when people are afraid to come and talk to us? Our mission, our purpose on Earth centers around our evangelistic movement, and granted, it is difficult to approach people and talk to them about Jesus. But shouldn't the easiest step here be talking to someone who approaches you? That seems most logical, yet we seem to be failing at the simplest attempt? Also, we are supposed to be demonstrating a different life, one that makes others question their ways. Our actions will always speak louder then words! And whether we like it or not, our facial expressions and body stance do affect how people view our actions.

If you saw someone who constantly looked angry, would you want to be like them? If you saw someone who always had a smile on their face, wouldn't want to be more like them? I do understand that the person who has a smile may be fake, or the person who looks angry actually be a very generous person, but people are naturally drawn to the one who smiles. Plus, we have real reason to smile! If we truly are Christians, and the love of Jesus is in our lives, we shouldn't have a single moment when we are down. We should constantly look happy, appreciative, and joyful! Our lives should be a shining beacon of light!

I know that these two people would have loved to share the gospel, and this is nothing against them. I am not judging them at all, or zeroing in on their behavior. But to all you Christians out there, wake up! Appearances and attitudes matter. We need to be careful that we are not falling into a rut where we simply act comfortably, or look a certain way. We should look excited, thankful, and enthused in every situation!