Before we judge someone — let’s look again.
These aren\u2019t designer sandals.
They\u2019re cut-up plastic bottles tied together with twine.
They\u2019re not a fashion statement \u2014 they are necessity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And suddenly Luke 6:37 feels less like a suggestion and more like a command: \u201cJudge not — condemn not — forgive”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It\u2019s easy to form opinions from a distance. It\u2019s harder to imagine the miles those feet have walked. Hot dirt. Sharp stones. Long roads we have never had to travel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We live in abundance most of the time. Closets full. Pantries stocked. Options everywhere. But somewhere in this great big world, someone is fashioning shoes from trash just to protect their soles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And God sees them.
He sees the callouses.
He sees the hunger.
He sees the resilience.
He sees the dignity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Appearances can deceive us — but hearts tell the real story.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As God\u2019s ambassadors, we are not called to evaluate people. We are called to love them. To pray for them. To stand in the gap for those who have less than we do and carry more than we can imagine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Lord, please forgive us for judging those who beg on street corners. Please forgive us for counting them out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What if instead of judging, we interceded?
What if instead of assuming, we asked God to bless?
What if instead of turning away, we allowed our hearts to break a little?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhatever you did for one of the least of these — you did for Me.\u201d (Matthew 25:40)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Those words change everything.
Because that image? That\u2019s not \u201cthem.\u201d
That\u2019s someone Jesus loves. Lord, soften our hearts.
Make us generous. Make us compassionate.
Make us people who look deeper and love wider.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Before we judge someone — may we first learn to kneel and pray.
And maybe \u2014 just maybe \u2014 we walk a mile in their shoes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Before we judge someone — let’s look again.These aren\u2019t designer sandals.They\u2019re cut-up plastic bottles tied together with twine.They\u2019re not a fashion statement \u2014 they are necessity. And suddenly Luke 6:37 feels less like a suggestion and more like a command: \u201cJudge not — condemn not — forgive”. It\u2019s easy to form opinions from a distance.…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":23880,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[19478,1210,33357,33356,3643,1392,3677,5527,25680,7463,1640,6061,8028,5502,7032,29777,331,33355,33358,33359],"class_list":["post-23879","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-ambassadors","tag-blog","tag-callouses","tag-condemn-not","tag-dignity","tag-facebook","tag-forgive","tag-hunger","tag-intercede","tag-judge","tag-judge-not","tag-love-them","tag-luke-637","tag-matthew-2540","tag-pray-for-them","tag-sandals","tag-shoes","tag-walk-a-mile","tag-whatever-you-do-for-these","tag-you-did-for-me"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23879","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=23879"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23879\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23881,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23879\/revisions\/23881"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/23880"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=23879"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=23879"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=23879"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}