Look deep

I went to church yesterday and the sermon in part was about how God looks at us. Basically He looks at our heart and we look at outside appearances. While only God can actually look inside our heart and know everything about us, I believe there is a lesson to be learned from this.

I have a friend who has a young gal interested in him. She is an avid fisherwoman, loves to dive and enjoys boating. My friend is a boat captain and loves all of the same things and they enjoy each other’s company. I was asking him how his friendship was progressing and if wedding bells might be in the air and he pointed out that he liked her but was turned off because she was not as attractive as he would hope. I tried to make the point that as time marches on the good looks will definitely begin to fade, wrinkles will develop and pounds will be harder to keep off; however a good “heart” will not fade, it will just grow stronger. Finding someone with whom you are compatible, that loves you, and most importantly can be good friends is a major accomplishment and will go a long ways in providing the binder to stay together through the tough times that will surely come.

Unfortunately like many people his age this wisdom was lost on him and he is determined to tell her to take a hike. He has the philosophy that beauty may just be skin deep but ugly is to the bone. She certainly is not ugly, but would not be selected for Miss America either. At any rate she is soon to be history and I suppose he will keep looking for the perfect ten. (Finding such a beauty in the Florida Keys might be like finding the eighth wonder of the world.)

I suppose the lesson I take from this is that my friend might be missing out on the best thing to ever enter his life because he refuses to look beyond outward appearances. We should look at God’s example. God used the most unlikely people throughout the Bible to accomplish mighty things for the Lord. Moses had a speech impediment but nevertheless God selected him as his spokesman to pharaoh and to lead His people out of Egypt. David is another example. He is mentioned over 1100 times in the Bible more than anyone else; Paul for example who wrote 2/3rds of the New Testament is only mentioned a little over three hundred times. Samuel the prophet would never have chosen David to anoint as King of Israel, nor would have anyone else. He was a ruddy looking 17 year old who was tending sheep while his father paraded all seven of his older brothers in front of Samuel hoping that one of them would be chosen. Even his own father did not think David was good material for this position; however God who can look at the heart instead of appearance told Samuel to summon David from the fields and had Samuel anoint him. Jesus ultimately descended from this lineage.

Give people a chance. Perhaps they do not dress as you think they should, or look as handsome or as beautiful as you would like, or maybe they do not have as much money, or maybe they are short and skinny, or whatever, but just remember God looks at the heart and that means to me that we should look deeper too. If you were choosing someone for your team I seriously doubt whether or not you might select some skinny, geeky looking “four-eyed” kid with bad hair. Ever heard of Bill Gates?

1 Samuel 16:7
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 a man sees; for man
looks at the outward appearance,
but the Lord looks at the heart.”