I don’t know about you, but I’m glad God looks at the heart and not the outside like we do (1 Samuel 16:1-13, specifically verse 7). He was talking to Samuel about the new king, but it still applies to us. For example, would you hire me to do something when I look like this?

You’d probably have second thoughts, and I don’t blame you at all. That is a tracing of a picture from a Vacation Bible School several years ago. I don’t look trustworthy at all. I look like a stereotypical hillbilly. Now, what about me looking like this?

I look pretty spiffy, don’t I? This might make you more inclined to consider me. However, despite the fact that I am snogly gear’d, no one is going to see me when the best looking people are chosen. I am fine with that.

My point is, I don’t really look capable of anything out of the ordinary. Oh sure, the tux makes me look somewhat professional, but that isn’t going to make anyone hire me. I seem to have done an about-face from what I just said, but stay with me for a little bit. My intangible features: skills, passion, knowledge, heart, they will be what people consider. These things can be demonstrated, but not actually seen.

How often do we look at someone before we make a decision about them. You see a person in ratty clothes, do you stop there, or do you take the time to know them on a deeper level? All people, even long time Christians, tend to have a pause when they first see someone they don’t know. The length of the pause can vary from person to person, but it is there. We keep looking at the outside and using that for our valuation of others.

We need to look at people’s hearts, and proceed from there. This doesn’t mean that we can avoid the jerks, we need to show the love of God, the love that He gives us freely, to all people we meet.