a common area of discrimination…

now in this matter of not showing favoritism in order to deal with it we need to look at some common areas of discrimination.

one is appearance.  appearance – we discriminate often because of appearance. 

beauty is everything in our world.  if you’re a cute kid, you’ve got it made.  if you’re plain, tough luck.  we judge people on their appearance – how thy look, how they dress.

i heard about an experiment with some hitchhikers.  they dressed them up in different ways and the more dressier the hitchhiker was the more likely he was going to get picked up.  how you dress definitely influences how you relate to people.

how do you judge people?  do you judge them immediately by how they look?  if somebody has long hair and a beard do you walk up to them and say, “JESUS saves and shaves”?  do you judge them immediately?

even CHRISTians get caught up in this dress for power, dress for success, dress to be cool.  we’re so concerned with what’s in and what’s out, what’s hot and what’s not.

have you heard of the gild radner philosophy of dress:  “i make my fashion choices based on what doesn’t itch.”  folks, i dress for comfort.  that’s why i don’t wear a suit and a tie anymore – it’s just more comfortable.  i dress to be comfortable but some people have problems with that.  you’re a preacher.  you should wear a black suit and a tie.

just a thought from the front porch…