Murray Smith
During my high school years, I shared classes with an awkward fellow student who struggled socially. Often called a derisive nickname, he was never celebrated. I felt bad for him as he had many likeable traits. He was actually a really decent guy, exceptionally clever with maths – and I wasn’t. He showed me patience and often helped me.
Years later I learned he’d long departed New Zealand and become a highly respected physicist in America. Then somewhat more recently, I heard that as a professor in rocket science, he worked for NASA.
That news delighted me… he’d actually done remarkable things with his life. As a youth who had been under-rated, a victim of superficial judgments and an outcast from the ‘in set,’ he showed everyone what he carried as a fine human being and exceptionally gifted man. How important it is to see good in others, recognising their potential – never judging negatively or imposing foregone conclusions that are potentially completely inaccurate.
Antiques Roadshow
I’ve enjoyed a popular television programme called the Antiques Roadshow. It’s aired for decades across Britain, travelling to other nations bringing together specialists to appraise antique and fine art items. I remember seeing a young woman present a family heirloom bequeathed by her grandmother – a brooch with a very large glistening blue stone in the middle surrounded by clear ‘gemstones’ set around the outside.
Countless jewellers had told the young woman that her grandmother’s old hand-me-down brooch was worthless. The lady went as far as to say that at times jewellers had been rudely dismissive, alleging the clear stones weren’t diamonds. Others said they were real – but were poor quality. So, what exactly was the truth?
She decided to give it another try. With little expectation, due to previous opinions that her accessory was nothing more than a piece of costume jewellery and that the big stone in the middle was in fact, stained glass, she presented her brooch to Antiques Roadshow expert John Benjamin.
“I’ve never seen a sapphire of this size ever,” John Benjamin said, “this is a real first for me!” He identified the sapphire’s age, plus its origin from Ceylon, stating emphatically that it was of the highest quality possible – as were the surrounding diamonds! Its value was in the range of $80,000 to $100,000.
The stunned granddaughter had bought into believing her brooch was worthless.
Back to my ‘rejected’ school mate. He also suffered worthless opinions of others, enduring negative, superficial judgements. Sadly, our flawed lens predisposes us to assess others (and even ourselves), as inadequate, as failures, hopeless, unpromising, worthless…
Fortunately, there’s one truly infallible expert who sees the inherent worth of people – God himself. He knows, loves and thoroughly understands every individual. Amazingly, He deems our worth and potential as inestimable, seeing things we fail to see.
That’s proven by Jesus considering His death on a cross, a sacrifice worth making – atoning for the sinful shortcomings of imperfect humanity… to make our full redemption possible.
