Some of you may already know that when we moved into our house in July of 2009 we didn't know that there were huge chunks of rot under some of the siding. We didn't know that all the windows needed changing, the current siding needed replacing, some of the electrical in our house was toasted, our pool didn't work, and other 'not-so-good' things needed replaced and done. You see, we didn't know any of this because on the outside our house looked beautiful and put together. Well, yesterday we finished getting all the new siding put on. The workers didn't just paste it on quickly over the rot though. They fixed what was underneath the old siding and then they put on the newer, nicer siding. That got me thinking (with a little help from my mom) ....The world looks at our exterior. They measure us by our hair, makeup, clothes, accessories, etc., etc. I've even been guilty a few times of looking at someone and sizing them up by their outer appearance. Remember the old saying: You can't judge a book by its cover. It's true. A few times I've judged a book by its cover with contempt and then opened it up and marveled at the loveliness of the real story.
God looks at the heart. Take God's choosing of David as King for example:
When they came, he looked on Eliab and thought, "Surely the LORD’s anointed is before him." But the LORD said to Samuel, "Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the LORD sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart."
"There remains yet the youngest, but behold, he is keeping the sheep." And Samuel said to Jesse, "Send and get him, for we will not sit down till he comes here." And he sent and brought him in.
And the LORD said, "Arise, anoint him, for this is he."
David was the youngest and he was just the shepherd boy. Surely the Lord would not want him to be king. No, no, no! Pick Eliab. He looks like a good leader. But, the Lord wouldn't hear of it. Eliab was not right on the inside. David was right based on his heart, not his looks. Like my house, people may be ugly and rotten inside, but they try their best to look beautiful on the surface. That's not going to do them any good on judgment day. The Lord will see their blackened heart before their pretty face.
Listen to Peter, one of Christ's apostles, in 1 Peter 3:4 on the topic of true beauty, "...but let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God’s sight is very precious." Peter understood that God looks inside us instead of what's outside.