Acid Test

Ok so I took this silly little “Politics Test” online through a link from a friend’s blog site. You put in your basic information and answer 20 or 30 questions. Then, before it tells you the results, it asks you four exit questions. The final questions were on divisive subjects like abortion, gun control, capital punishment and something else, that I can’t remember. Then you wait for your “label”. This test labeled me a “Totalitarian.” The first thing that pops into my head when I read that word was Joseph Stalin. The test then lines up how you answered with famous people. I was way too close to Stalin, but in reality my axis was right on the heart of the Pope, which was cool with me, unless the Pope is a commie. Am I a commie? Wow, I guess I didn’t know! Upon further observation of the people in the picture, in the absolute middle, was the ever famous “centrist” Senator John Kerry. Ummm. Well anyway, it was so obvious to me which way the test was leaning that I literally laughed out loud.
It’s amazing to me that we as people have this insatiable need to label everyone. In five seconds we all make character judgments about people. We decide, in essence, if we are going to like them, if they are our kind of people, if they are acceptable to us. While I know we cannot possible be friends with everyone, why can’t we give people A LOT more time before applying a label? Why can’t I see everyone through the grace of the cross and not just the homogeneous? Why do we put everyone through an acid test of our own making?
Help us LORD! People deserve so much more, you thought so by sending Jesus!