Legalism As It Pertains To...Appearance

You may be thinking, "Wait, isn't this the same as the one you wrote on clothing?" That'd be a valid question, but this actually is an entirely different topic, and one I think most of us have lived out if we're honest about it.

When someone walks into a church service and they don't look like you, how do you feel about that? For example, perhaps everyone in your circle dresses well for church, limits hair length for men, would never pierce an ear or *gasp* something else. It's also likely nobody in your circle has a tattoo, either, right?

What if you attend a church essentially built for a different crowd, perhaps a motorcycle-driving group? Your circle may well include folks who wear riding gear to church, might have a few or many tattoos, some piercings and heck, maybe even long hair and seemingly unkempt beards on the men. If someone walks in that doesn't look like you, do YOU then feel a bit uncomfortable, as though they don't fit?

Look, I'm neither of these groups. I'm casual, don't have a pierced ear (well, not anymore), no tattoos and my haircut could best be described as "military" in style. I don't really fit either of the above groups, and so maybe all that means is they might not be in the circle I hang out with, but does that mean we can't worship together?

What I'm trying to get at is that I expect us to be uncomfortable with people who don't look like us, talk like us, act like us. But that should never be a reason to exclude someone or not go speak to them and invite them in lovingly to church. Realizing we are very much human and prone to looking at appearance much more than someone's heart, I think we have to work hard to see past the exterior to enjoy the interior with people. As a rule, I think that's a tough line for Christians to cross, for a variety of reasons.

The only reason I am bringing up here, however, is legalism. I think this is a case where legalism can actually be fairly unintentional. For example, I may not intend to ignore that person who walks in who makes me uncomfortable, but I may not put any effort into talking to them, either. Am I wrong? You bet I am. Have I judged based on my own sense of what someone should look like? You bet I have. Is this legalism? I believe that it is and I say that because even though it is seemingly unintentional, I'm creating a box I want their appearance to fit within and am unwilling to be inviting to them if they are outside that box.

While I firmly believe most forms of legalism are completely intentional, based on often misguidedly strong beliefs about something upon which God has provided no Biblical guidance or specifics, appearance is one where I think we all fail without even thinking strongly about it. If you ask many Christians, and press them on the issue of whether or not someone's appearance (again, not clothing for purposes of this discussion) should affect how well you accept them, I think they'd say it should not. Yet subconsciously, unintentionally, we all do it.

So while I'm saying this is something most of us do or have done even though we didn't mean to or didn't want to, it's still legalism at its core. I challenge all of us to remove our preconceived ideas about what a Christian looks like, about who God can love. He has made it clear to us He loves us for our hearts, not our outward appearance. If we go against that, we're against God, making up rules of man, and that, again, is legalism.

Let's not do it! Let's love like God loves us! Don't ignore the person and hope someone else will speak to them. Don't walk away figuring God will take care of it. We are all called to minister for Him and it happens in many ways. Sometimes, it really is as simple as looking past appearance to the heart of someone and loving them as God would have us do.