By Danny Minton

I recently watched the movie “Frankenstein” for the “umpteenth” time. In one scene, Dr. Frankenstein’s monster, having escaped, emerges from the woods and sees a little girl. The scene only lasts about three minutes but portrays a side of the monster that many fail to see. Although initially apprehensive, little Maria sees him and asks if he wants to play with her. She leads him by the hand to a nearby lake. Maria hands him a flower, and the monster smiles for the first time. She shows him how to make a boat by throwing the flowers into the water and watching them float. The monster follows suit, but when he runs out of flowers, he decides to toss Maria into the water, expecting her to float. When she doesn’t come up, he turns and leaves in fear.

What Maria saw when the monster came out of the woods was not a monster, but someone to play with her. In that short three-minute segment, the viewers also saw the good side of the monster for one moment come out because of the kindness shown to him.

Unfortunately, we live in a world where we see people not through the good within them, but for what they do wrong or what we see as undesirable traits. There is a strong tendency to judge others based on what we see as something negative. No matter how much good someone does, one negative act can undo it all. We all do it, and I include myself in “We all.” We find it difficult to look beyond our negative feelings and see the human being within. These feelings find themselves in all parts of our lives, even making their way into our friends and church relationships.

We live in a world where many always look for the bad in people. I’m part of the generation that still uses “Facebook.” I’ve found that no matter what someone writes or what video they show, someone always gives a judgmental or negative comment. No matter what someone presents, someone is always waiting to pounce on it with their negative comment.

The heart of Little Maria echoes the heart of other children. On July 15, 1944, fifteen-year-old Ann Frank wrote the following in her diary. 

“In spite of everything I still believe that people are really good at heart. I simply can’t build up my hopes on a foundation consisting of confusion, misery, and death. I see the world gradually being turned into a wilderness, I hear the ever approaching thunder, which will destroy us too, I can feel the sufferings of millions and yet, if I look up into the heavens, I think that it will all come right, that this cruelty too will end, and that peace and tranquility will return again.” Six months later, she would die from Typhus in a German concentration camp. 

The fictional child, Pollyanna, read from the back of a locket, “If we look for the bad in people expecting to find it, we surely will.” She was reading it to a preacher who spent every Sunday dwelling on the bad things in people’s lives, neglecting to spend time on the good.

If we allow the negative to take up camp in our hearts, we will see it everywhere we turn without noticing the good things people do. As James taught us, we must look at ourselves in the mirror, seeing our shortcomings, before passing judgment on someone else. Maybe he learned this the day the crowd brought the woman caught in adultery to Jesus, expecting him to condemn her to death. Instead, He paused and knelt to the ground. He didn’t face the crowd but wrote something in the sand. Without raising his head he spoke to them, “Let the one who has never sinned throw the first stone.” Each person looked in the mirror of their lives and, from the oldest to the youngest, dropped their stone and walked away. Jesus then turned to the young woman and asked, “Woman, where are they? Did no one condemn you?” She said, “No one, Lord.” Jesus responded, “I do not condemn you, either. Go. From now on sin no more.”

No matter how good or bad of a person we may be, we all have faults. In the eyes of God, faults shown in public are no worse than those in private. They may affect more people or their opinions, but either way, it saddens God. When Jesus asked God to forgive men of their sins from the cross, there was no qualifying remark about what sin or how many. In response, God the Father forgives us even though we don’t deserve it.

People will make mistakes. They will disappoint us. They will do things we don’t like or don’t agree on. We will make mistakes. We will disappoint others. We will do things they don’t like or agree with. The main thing is don’t forget to notice the good as well. Praise them when something good takes place. Don’t ignore the positive things that they accomplish. 

“Do not judge so that you will not be judged. For in the way you judge, you will be judged; and by your standard of measure, it will be measured to you. Why do you look at the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ and behold, the log is in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.”  Matthew 7:1-5 (NASB)

Danny Minton is a former Elder and minister at Southern Hills Church of Christ