in a truck with camper in tow, she launched out. One afternoon a water pump blew on her truck. She was tired, exasperated, scared, and alone. No one seemed interested in helping. Leaning up against the trailer, she prayed, “Please God, send me an angel, preferably one with mechanical experience.”

Within four minutes, a huge Harley drove up, ridden by an enormous man sporting long, black hair, a beard and tattooed arms. He jumped off and went to work on the truck. Within another few minutes, he flagged down a larger truck, attached a tow chain to the frame of the disabled Chevy, and whisked the whole 56-foot rig off the freeway onto a side street, where he calmly continued to work on the water pump. The intimidated schoolteacher was too dumfounded to talk. As he finished the task, she finally got up the courage to say, “Thanks so much.” Noticing her surprise, he looked her straight in the eye and mumbled, “Don’t judge a book by its cover.” With that, he smiled, closed the hood of the truck, and straddled his Harley. With a wave, he was gone as fast as

We have an issue in our state about immigration, illegal immigration. Now it has gotten to the point with some that any hispanic has to be illegal. The joke in seminary was that all orientals were bad drivers. Unfortunately my encounters on the road almost had me believing that stereotype.

These are blanket statements about people. What is the real issue? We are setting ourselves as God, the Judge of all. I have found once you get to know someone their lives are as good and bad as yours are and they have the same concerns about family, working, etc. "I’m better than you" is based on my comparing you to me. I place myself over you because of what I see or have assumed.

We Are All Sinners

There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the one who is able to save and destroy. But you—who are you to judge your neighbor?

The solution to judging others and placing yourself on a pedestal is to see people including yourself through the eyes of God. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 4:7,

"What makes you better than anyone else? What do you
have that God hasn’t given you? And if all you have is
from God, why boast as though you have accomplished
something on your own?"

He is God and you are not. Thankfully we worship a God who has mercy and grace on each of us. He loves each of us and desires that we come back to the permanent relationship that we are suppose to have with Him.

When we look at our lives and compare, there is only one comparison that counts, "All have sinned". We are all on level playing ground. We are sinners, lost, without a hope. The only difference between me and someone else is I know Jesus. He is the only one who matters when it comes to comparison.

My Will Be Done - v. 13

Now listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.”

Evidence for an over inflated opinion of ourselves comes from the College Board that administers the Scholastic Aptitude Test, the SAT exam, which millions of high school students take each year. On that test there are a number of other questions besides the ones about math and English which the students are asked to answer. For instance, they are asked to evaluate their leadership ability.

Recently in an exam, seventy percent