Look at the Heart

 

“ The Lord does not look at the things people look at.”

—1 Samuel 16:7a

Were you a gorgeously beautiful child? Some children are breathtakingly beautiful. Sometimes, when these children grow older, some of that cherubic beauty begins to fade a bit. Others, who start out in this life very beautiful, retain that beauty all their lives.

My sister-in-law, who graduated to heaven at the age of 67 after an 18-month battle with multiple myeloma, was a very beautiful child. She was one who retained that beauty as she grew older. In fact, she remained a strikingly beautiful woman all the days of her earthly life. Unlike some beautiful women, she did not consider herself beautiful at all. And, that was part of the charm and grace that surrounded her being. Added to her physical beauty, she had a sweet and loving spirit and was a devoted servant of the Lord Jesus Christ.

The world often fawns over beautiful people. In fact, I cannot imagine the pressure placed on young girls and young women by all the advertising that lifts physical beauty onto a pedestal. We men do not have quite so much pressure. In fact, men seem to have a built-in safety mechanism that prevents them from feeling bad about themselves.

Whenever I see some “hunk” on television, I remember a very brief conversation I once overheard at the firehouse where I was on duty one night. Some magnificent physical specimen of a man came on the TV screen and the sound track punctuated his appearance by oohs and ahs of women’s voices. One of the firefighters turned to another and declared, “Yeah, but can he take a hydrant?” (Referring to one of the many quite tricky tasks that firefighters have to perform within seconds of arriving at the scene of a working fire.)

In choosing the first king of Israel, Samuel had a daunting task. God had told him to go an examine the sons of the shepherd, Jesse. In so doing, each son appeared before Samuel and God told Samuel which son to choose. When one particularly handsome, tall, and strong son appeared, the conversation Samuel had with God is recorded in 1 Samuel 16:7:

But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”

I don’t know about you, but as someone who lacks virtually any physical attractiveness, I have always taken comfort in that declaration by God. But then, I remember how blackened my heart is by the sin I inherited from Adam and the sins I’ve committed on my own.

How grateful I am that my sins are covered by the blood of my Savior. When God looks at my heart, He sees the blood of His precious Son and knows that I am a child He has chosen to belong to him.

Most of us will never win a beauty contest—not there is anything at all wrong with those who do win such contests. But, when it comes to “belonging” we who follow Jesus have achieved the highest level of belonging possible: we belong to the Great King. And that, dear ones, should make us truly rejoice.

 

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