Those four words: "You don't look sick." Oh, how they can hurt.
Most often, these words are applied to people who have "hidden diseases." Those diseases that eat away our bodies from the inside out, invisible to the casual observer, but very well known by the one afflicted.
It hurts to feel judged by people who know nothing about you. They assess the situation based on the few things they have heard or observed, yet never take the time to see what's inside. They look and decide and say things like "you don't look sick" or "if you are hurting you must have some unconfessed sin."
Have you heard these things? Have you said these things?
Jesus said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” (Matthew 9:12-13)
Often the hidden sickness isn't physical, but emotional or mental. We look at a person's current situation and make assumptions about their spiritual worthiness based on the sin we see them walking in at the moment. We forget to consider what may have occurred or is occurring in that person's life journey that brought them to this current moment.
Many people will say something along the lines of "well, you just don't know what they may have gone through, or are going through right now." So true. However, my observation is that this courtesy of considering such things often only applies to those people we have determined worthy of grace and mercy.
Jesus also said, "Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?" (Matthew 7:1-3)
My heart breaks to see Christian brothers and sisters who despise and reject another based on their own assessment of that person... "for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus." (Romans 3:23-24)
Let us stop judging others. Let us remember that the same price has been paid for every sin... redemption through the precious blood of Christ Jesus. If we cannot bring ourselves to love someone, can we at least agree to pray for them? Can we lift them up to the Great Physician who desires to heal everyone, especially those faulty folks who are striving each day to try to become more like Him? So what if they aren't there yet? Who is?
