July 7th

How to make people feel welcomed at church is always a topic of great discussion. Churches have struggled with the concept for many years. The issue becomes how does a visitor view the church as welcoming? In today's reading we see that;  "How people look on the outside, of course, is not an indicator of what is in their hearts. God’s focus is on the inner life of people. He looks far below the surface of someone’s appearance and that’s what He desires for us to do as well." But we are not God. We do tend to judge people on appearance and then treat or welcome them into our churches based on that perception. The concept of not judging a person based on appearance goes counterculture to how we are raised in America. We are told not to judge by our parents and teachers yet at the same time told to dress in certain ways to impress others, depending on the occasion. With all the messages we get from society about appearance being important, we must rely on God to give us the spiritual vision necessary to see beyond what our regular eyes can see. Much grace is required here for me.