Are You a Judge?

Before Dee and I moved to the Wooster area we would eat brunch at a local Bob Evans almost every Sunday after church. We chose this particular restaurant because the food was good and the service was incredible. The staff, however, would stare at us each week as we came through the doors. Some of them would also stand together and talk while looking at us. No, I am not paranoid, nor is my imaginary friend who is standing next to me.

After several weeks of this experience, one of the servers, with the others standing in the background, tentatively approached us. Pointing to her co-workers she said, “We’ve been talking about you trying figure out who you are.” (I told you I wasn’t paranoid so quit saying those things about me while you’re reading this.) After an uncomfortable pause she looked at me and asked, “Are you a judge? We think you look like a judge.” And looking at Dee, she said, “And you look like a judge’s wife.” I smiled and explained that I was a school teacher soon to be a principal. She smiled back, thanked me, and went over to her friends to share the news. After that day the food was good and the service was pretty good too.

On another occasion, Dee was asked, “Do you work in a bank? You look like you work in a bank.” Ironically, Dee never worked in a bank. It is obvious that people notice how we look. I am not speaking as much about our clothes and the way we fix our hair as I am about the demeanor in which we carry ourselves. What do we look like? Paul says, “And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into His likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit” (II Corinthians 3:18). Do we reflect the image of Christ in our lives? Do we look like Him causing people to say, “Are you a Christian? You look like a Christian.”