I definitely learned one thing during my studies: Even if I don't think I'm going to write an exam today, that doesn't mean that there won't be an exam 😃

I've also learned that believing that a certain man is interested in a certain woman (or vice versa) is not necessarily correct.

What we think about other people can be true - but it doesn't have to be! In fact, we can be totally wrong if we think we can read other people's minds.

It is the same when we bear witness. We might think people don't care about Jesus. Or our co-worker might balk at an invitation to a program in the church. But its reality doesn't have to be the reality I imagine. Our thinking is fertile ground for prejudices that don't have to have anything to do with the thoughts of my neighbor. Perhaps even my own disinterest in a particular church program is the sole reason for these notions.

Jesus said, "Judge not, lest you be judged." We usually understand this not to judge people. Are our prejudices preventing us from sharing the gospel? We see a person's lifestyle and anticipate how they will react. But everyone has two layers in their lives that we find very difficult to see through. a) its history, b) its current history.

I first met Gus on his porch - empty beer cans lying around. When I started to talk about Jesus, I thought: He'll definitely brush it off! Because loud heavy metal music was coming from his house and he looked like a street fighter with his scars. But he had a history: his wife had tried to murder him one night by stabbing him in the neck with a knife. He also had a recent story: his grandchild would be born soon. Somehow, those two stories softened this man's heart and made his eyes water as we talked about Jesus.

How can we conquer prejudice so that we are not conquered by it?

1) Take the time to ask people about their backgrounds. Listen up! Note the sore spots in her life.

2) Let your negative experiences with the person be erased from your mind by God's grace. Do this cleaning daily. The anointed David did this again and again with his memories of King Saul. He never looked at him as he treated him, but as God originally intended Saul to be.

3) Begin each new encounter with the hopeful assumption that God's providence or circumstances have blown a fresh breeze of spiritual longing and curiosity into the life of the other.

4) Ask God in prayer to help you love your interlocutor as he loves him.

Let us not forget: we are all more than the bodies we inhabit; our life is a book being written. Strange that the author of Life lets us write the ending ourselves and even allows us to change the plot in other books. May God give you wisdom as you put your voice and Jesus name in someone else's book.

Live your potential!
www.GoTential.org/fishingschool