RESPECTER OF HEART

Are you a classifier? I bet you, you are. We all are! 

That's what makes you and I unique versus all of creation. Man can think orderly thoughts, label them a certain way and somehow stash them in "boxes" in a forever-expanding warehouse of memories---with thought retrieval accomplished in a flash.

We classify day from night, rain from shine, sowing versus harvest, left and right.

Kaya, hiwalay kung hiwalay... ang labada. (So we separate the whites from colored laundry.) 

In my primary school days eons ago, teachers assigned their "A" students in row one, with the least thinkers in fourth row. A classmate somehow lisp-pronounced the latter as poor-row, so the label stuck with him and fourth row seaters.

Economists refer to A, B, C, D classes depending on their earning capacity and ability to amass things like houses and cars.

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Then we've somehow also gotten used to referring to people as either black , white, red, brown or yellow---spawning color denominated disputes in many countries. Apartheid, prejudice, bigotry, discrimination. We thought these were things of the past, yet color coding crimes still persist. 

In some countries, men are so biased against women that brothers would go to the extent of murdering or mutilating their sisters who stray from their expected roles as docile weaklings.

Which leads one to thinking--- is God a respecter of color, creed or gender as man so qualifies? Does He place us in boxes, playing us against each other for His approval? Is he awed by your to-die-for riches, your poverty or even your direst need? 

Is he mesmerized by your tantalizing voice every time you worship Him?

I got a stinging rebuke one Sunday. The worship leader didn't lead well. The singers sang so-so. So from worship, I lapsed into complaint mode. But the Holy Spirit wouldn't let that pass. This senior Christian needed a whack somehow. And I got it, hook line and sinker:

"I don't care if anyone is off key. I look at the heart, nothing more. 

"I'm no respecter of persons or their religion or race. I will not be moved by color of skin or narrowness of one's nose or thickness of one's lips. 

"Nor will I concern myself with what's in your bank account or whether you studied in Harvard or Juan Luna Elementary School. 

"I won't even be impressed by your good works, although I would love for everyone to do good works. But I'm after your faith alone, which if genuine, births honest-to-goodness good works---and my wanting to be involved in your life."

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"Without faith, it is impossible to please God," reminds Hebrew 11:6.

Here's the clincher: Mark 12:33--- "To love him with all your heart, with all your understanding and with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself is more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices."

God is concerned with our heart alone! One look at it and He knows how judgmental, proud, lofty, or humble, gracious, forgiving we are. That's why Proverbs 4:23 cautions us to guard our heart, "for it is the wellspring of life."

Oh boy, I need to stick to classifying coloreds from whites---I mean clothes na lang!