Do You See What I See?

The LORD said to Samuel: "Do not judge from his appearance or from his lofty stature, because I have rejected him. Not as man sees does God see, because man sees the appearance but the LORD looks into the heart."
- 1 Samuel 16:7

This is the scene where Jesse is presenting his sons to Samuel so God can choose one to be the next king. Samuel sees the eldest son and assumes God will choose him because he looks and acts the part. But God pays no attention to appearances, positions or social standings. God looks into our hearts, and judges by what He sees in there. He chose David, the youngest of Jesse's sons, the lowly shepherd boy, to be the king.

How often do we judge people by their appearance? I am guilty of this frequently. We assume that someone who is well-dressed and appears to be in control must have a great life. But someone in older, worn out clothes who looks disheveled must be struggling, or doesn't care how they look. Often, if we get to know these people we discover the opposite is true.

If only we could see people as God sees them. If only we could see past the outward appearances and look into their hearts instead. In fact, that's not so hard to do. If we can take the time to get to know someone, talk to them, listen to them, we will start to discover who they really are. We can get to know their hearts, and start to see them as God sees them.

We should remember that God sees us in the same way. He doesn't see how we look, how we dress, and He doesn't care what our position is at work or whether we're in the cool mom clique. He only sees what's in our hearts, how we feel, how we care, how we love. Make sure your heart is beautiful, and seek to see the beauty in others' hearts regardless of what your eyes see.