Verse of the Day: 1 Samuel 16:6-7, So it was, when they came, that he looked at Eliab and said, “Surely the LORD’s anointed is before Him!” But the LORD said to Samuel, “Do not look at his appearance or at his physical stature, because I have refused him. For the LORD does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.”
How quickly we jump to conclusions about who someone is simply by the impression we get from viewing the exterior. We often make judgments based on how someone is dressed, even before they open their mouths. We develop our thoughts of who we think a person is based on what we see of them, on occasion, when we see them in church. Many of us have put on quite the façade, and made people think that we had it all together, when in reality we were falling apart. We had people thinking that we were godly, when that was far from true when we were all alone or away from our Christian brothers and sisters. Samuel made an assumption when he saw Eliab, David’s brother. You would have thought that he would be a bit more discerning, considering that King Saul also looked like a king in his physical appearance, but turned out to be a king who was not after God’s own heart. All too often we see people in church and think, “I wish I was as godly as they are”, or we think, “Someday I’ll have it all together like they do.” However, I must remind us this very moment that people are not our “measuring stick”. Romans 3:23 tells us, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” John 1:14 also says, “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.” In other words, Jesus is the Glory of the Father. Therefore, we fall short of Him and no one else. When we want to know how well we are doing, we need to compare ourselves to Jesus and no one else. That, my brothers and sisters, will result in a humbling revelation of where we are in our walk with God. Nonetheless, regardless of how well we think we have built our façade, it will never cover up what God sees in us. God is not as concerned with our outer appearance as much as He is with what is in our hearts. In 1 Peter 3:3-4, the Apostle says this to wives in respect to their appearance and behavior, “Do not let your adornment be merely outward—arranging the hair, wearing gold, or putting on fine apparel— 4 rather let it be the hidden person of the heart, with the incorruptible beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is very precious in the sight of God.” When we pretend to be someone we are not, as Christians, we are no better than the scribes and Pharisees that Jesus rebuked for their hypocrisy. In Matthew 23:27-28, Jesus said to them, “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness. 28 Even so you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.” The bottom line is that Jesus knows the heart. Proverbs 21:2 reminds us, “Every way of a man is right in his own eyes, but the LORD weighs the hearts.” Psalm 44:20-21 also warns, “If we had forgotten the name of our God, or stretched out our hands to a foreign god, 21 Would not God search this out? For He knows the secrets of the heart.” We must be careful not to judge too quickly what we think of others simply by their outward appearance. Even more so, we must take great care to make sure our hearts are right with God, and stop thinking that we are fooling anyone, especially God, with our shallow Christianity and the fake acts of righteousness we put on display to try and get people to think that we are more spiritual than we really are. Let us walk with the Lord by faith, with integrity, holiness, and righteousness, knowing that God sees beyond our actions and is more interested in what lies in our hearts for Him. We cannot escape God’s x-ray vision.
Today, God extends an invitation to you to accept His gift of salvation (Rom 6:23). Will you accept it? Anyone who calls on Jesus, by faith, in repentance, confessing your sins, will receive eternal life. Do not put off calling on Him, and receive Him and His gift of salvation today (Rom 10:13).
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