Today’s Scripture: 1 Samuel 16-19

Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. – 2 Corinthians 4:16

Most of us put a lot of stock in outward appearance. While there’s nothing wrong with combing our hair and smelling good, it says a lot about our basic orientation to life. We are most concerned with how other people see us.

Not so with God. When the Lord sent Samuel to the house of Jesse in Bethlehem to anoint one of his sons as king, Samuel was impressed with Eliab, but God said to Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart” (1 Samuel 16:7).

Does that mean that a big, good-looking guy cannot be a spiritual leader? No, of course not. It just means that God looks for something deeper than that: a heart that is given to Him.

David, who wasn’t even invited to the event, was finally brought in from the pasture where he was tending the sheep, and the Lord said, “Rise and anoint him; he is the one.” There was something within David that only the Lord could see.

What does God see when He looks at us? Hearts that are filled with the Word and given to prayer? And what about our opinion of others? Are we so turned off by someone’s outward appearance that we write them off before we discover their inner beauty?

It is one of the great ironies of our day that we spend buckets of money on our bodies, which are, in effect, wasting away. At the same time, we often neglect the inward person, which the apostle Paul says should be renewed day by day.

Prayer

Lord, help me today to see as You see, and to live my life in light of Your perspective. Amen.

To Ponder

What does God see when He looks at me today?

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