"But the Lord said to Samuel; look not on his appearance or the height of his stature; for I have rejected him. For the Lord sees not as man sees, for man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks upon the heart." 1 Samuel 16:7 (The Amplified Bible)
We are a society that focuses far too much on looks. Parents spend hundreds of dollars to buy their children the "right" kind of clothes, so their children will fit in. Men spend thousands of dollars on fancy suits and shoes. It is not unusual for a celebrity to spend more than ten thousand dollars on a dress to wear for one night to some awards show. We dye the gray out, we lift faces and lift butts, and botox, and liposuction, all to look better to man.
Sadly, even many Christians fall into the trap of worrying more about our outside appearances than what is in our hearts. This is like getting our teeth whitened when every one of them is full of cavities. Men see outward appearances, The Master sees our hearts. Our judgments are often made far too quickly, using too little information, and are frequently flawed. Jehovah's judgments are pure, true, and never flawed.
Even Samuel, a prophet of God, made the same mistake. He saw Eliab, David's brother, and based on his size and looks, thought that surely this must be who The Father picked to be King of His chosen people. But The Lord saw David's heart, and his potential, and picked him to lead His people. David's own Father, Jesse, made the same mistake. He was so sure that David was not the one to be King that he did not even bring him when he brought his other sons before Samuel the prophet. Despite all this, Our Father knew David was the right man for the job.
If we Christians worried about the sin in our lives even half as much as our looks, the body of Christ could awaken from its nap and go out to save this dead and dying world. If only we would clean our hearts like we clean our bodies. If only we would wash our hearts like we wash our hair, washing them in the blood of the Lamb. A clean heart is a joy unto the Lord. Instead, we waste time whitewashing the outside of an outhouse. We should deal with the stench first, then whitewash the outside of that outhouse. But instead, we let a cancer, sin, spread through our hearts and minds and bodies while we fix up the outside to impress men. We foolishly paint the outside of our homes as trash piles up, roaches breed, the floor falls in, and the toilet overflows.
Last month, in my home church, a squirrel died in the attic. The smell of death and decay filled the entire church and nauseated us. This is what sin smells like to God. Just as the smell in the church nauseated and revolted us, how much more so the smell of our sins must be to our Father. We are all handsome and pretty and sweet smelling on the outside, but full of the stench of death and decay on the inside. If you spray perfume on a pile of dung, it is still a pile of dung. Though man may be fooled, Our Creator is not. He sees into the secret places of our heart. He even goes into the hidden places we try to close.
The Lord of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob sees all and knows all. You can not hide your sinful actions. You might be fooling your friends or your family or your boss, but you are not fooling Our Father. Sin is death and it corrupts, rots, and destroys the host. Unrepentant sin in our lives stops cold the work of the Holy Spirit. Though we may try to cover the rot and stench of it, it is still there until we repent of it and ask Our Master to forgive us. When we have done that, then we can know that we are clean on both the outside and inside. We know that Our Savior can use us again for the glory of His kingdom, if our hearts, like King David's, are clean.
Copyright 2007 Timothy E. Davis