A Fresh Look

A Fresh Look

The LORD doesn’t see things the way you see them. People judge by outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart. 1 Samuel 16:7

Seeing is believing, right? So often it seems that way. We’ve become a society that jumps to conclusions—instantly—based on an endless stream of information. Twenty-four-hour news coverage, blogs, tweets, e-mails, and texts seem to fly around nonstop, giving us immediate access to information that plays into the decisions we make.

Football coaches make lots of decisions too, most often determined by watching lots of film. Lots and lots of film. During my career, the only difference over the years has been that I went from watching videotapes to watching DVDs.

It’s customary for coaches to watch every play in a game at least two times: once from the sideline camera’s angle and once from the end zone camera’s angle. You may have seen the sideline camera on television, located up in the stands around the fifty-yard line. The end zone camera shoots the action from between the goalposts at one end of the field. For the coaches’ viewing purposes, the films are spliced together so that each play is seen back-to-back from both camera views, first sideline, then end zone.

Why? Added perspective.

From the sideline camera shot, you can’t see the spacing of the offensive and defensive linemen, but it becomes very clear from the end zone camera. On the other hand, actual yardage is lost on the end zone camera angle but is apparent from the sidelines.

Life is like that as well. So often we’ll view someone through our single-lens life experiences. But that’s a skewed view. A person who may seem arrogant to us actually could be extremely shy, or a person who doesn’t speak openly about their faith or has concerns about faith may have past experiences that make that understandable . . . if we try to understand.

God wants us to avoid making snap decisions about people without getting to know them. Our initial perspectives may be inaccurate pictures of who they are.

Uncommon Key > Be slow to form opinions about others without getting additional input—either from them or from someone who knows them well. Always look at people with God’s eyes, because He can see straight to their hearts.