Thought for Today
Exodus 24:17 Now the appearance of the glory of the Lord was like a devouring fire on the top of the mountain in the sight of the people of Israel.
1 Samuel 16:7 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 does not see as mortals see; they look on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart."
2 Corinthians 5:12 We are not commending ourselves to you again, but giving you an opportunity to boast about us, so that you may be able to answer those who boast in outward appearance and not in the heart.
Colossians 2:23 These have indeed an appearance of wisdom in promoting self-imposed piety, humility, and severe treatment of the body, but they are of no value in checking self-indulgence.
Some days it seems to me that advertisements on television only deal with 2 subjects: drugs (and their side effects) or products to improve our outward appearance. I do my best to totally ignore all drug advertising. I trust my doctors to better prescribe for me than I trust anyone in the advertising industry. I would like to equally ignore all the beauty product advertising, but in truth, we do live in a society and in an age where outward physical is deemed very important.
During the earliest days of the pandemic with its increased food insecurity, I was horrified to see stories about the quantity of fruit and vegetables that never made it to market because of the outward appearance of the produce. Perfectly nourishing food that was often destroyed because the values of our society deemed that appearance ugly and of no value.
Regrettably, we sometimes do the same thing with people. We are in the midst of a presidential campaign year. Candidates for nominations and for election employ staffs to make them look prettier, younger and more energetic. Advertising agencies carefully script and direct television advertisements and photo ops to make the candidates more appealing and electable.
There is a reason why God commanded, “Leviticus 26:1 You shall make for yourselves no idols and erect no carved images or pillars, and you shall not place figured stones in your land, to worship at them; for I am the Lord your God.” We have all heard the adage not to judge a book by its cover; but, our human tendency is to do exactly that. If you need to be convinced, visit anywhere that sells books and look at all the bright colored, gaudy book covers. What other purpose might they serve except to attract our attention and lure us to buy the book? If it were not the case, book covers would all be a dull gray with nothing on the cover save the title!
We judge books by their covers and people by their outward appearances. We judge the things we value and the things we purchase by their outward appearance. We even judge the things we eat by outward appearance more than by nutritional content. Our ancestors-in-the-faith even had the tendency to judge and value the gods they worshiped by the outward appearance of objects, carved (graven) images. The thing meant to represent that god eventually came to be the object of their worship, as though some picture or image, some thing, could actually be a god.
Paul understood. He referenced “those who boast in outward appearance and not in the heart.” He also understood that “the Lord does not see as mortals see; they look on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart." Our Creator God sees who and what we truly are, the essence of our very being. Our Creator God also sees fully whose we truly are.
When our Creator God looks at you, looks at me, what does God see? Does my life reflect who, what and whose I truly am? Do my words and my deeds reflect who, what and whose I truly am? Many of us have heard Psalm 19:14 prayed in church, “Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable to you, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.” I have even used a variation of it before my sermons. Thank goodness ““the Lord does not see as mortals see; they look on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart."
Stay safe, look to your inward appearance, trust God,
Pastor Ray