John 7:1-52

"Stop judging by external standards, and judge by true standards." (7:24)

The Jewish authorities, and even the crowd of people listening to His teaching, are continuing to criticize Jesus. They object to His healing on the Sabbath. They dislike that He is from Galilee. They question the wisdom of a man who "... has never been to school". (7:15)

They refuse to look past the earthly, practical points, and see the glory of God shining through Jesus.

I've been blessed with the opportunity to visit many different churches. Some have stained glass windows and liturgically-based worship. Other have contemporary buildings with large screens shining with praise chorus lyrics. Some churches kneel to pray; others lie down. Some of these churches believe every word of the Bible is literal and must be fully accepted as truth. Others encourage questioning and critical thinking of our holy writings.

What amazes me the most, however, is how these churches criticize each other!

When I go to a traditional church, they criticize 'flamboyant' dancing and praise bands. When I go to a contemporary church, they criticize 'boring' organ music and intercessions.

Aren't we missing the point?

Like the crowd around Jesus, we are judging externally. We are assuming that because someone worships with hymns, or dancing, or even snake-handling, they are, somehow, not truly worshipping God. We decide that they are not really going to connect with God unless they change to our form of worship.

But if we judge by "true standards", we are forced to see that all of these churches, despite their differences in prayer, music, and preaching, are all in the business of the same thing: Worshipping the One True God, through His Son, Jesus.

Jesus asks the crowd to look past all the external details, and to see Him for who He truly is. Isn't that something we can apply to our Christian lives as well?