How many of you have ever seen someone and automatically judged who they were and what they thought. Whether or not they were a Christian, simply by their outward appearance?
We know we are not suppose to do this, but we all do it. Everyone of us is guilty of this. Our reading for today is from 1 Samuel 16. Here Samuel is sent to anoint the son of Jesse to be king. And so Samuel goes and sees the eldest son and thinks this must be the one. God tells 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.’ God does not see as we see. He looks beyond the tattoos and the piercings. He looks past the sins of the past, the things that are worn on our sleeves, and what names us and tells society who we are. Interestingly one of the people I follow on Twitter said a few weeks ago that they were among the few who did not have a tattoo or piercing so they were rebelling against what society was accepting as normal. But what society sees as normal, the church has not accepted. And one could argue that as the church we are not to be like society. We are to be like God. Who does not judge people by their appearance, but by their heart. And if this is the case, why is it when David is finally brought in his description is “he was ruddy, and had beautiful eyes, and was handsome.” He had beautiful eyes, and was handsome… Now he was red in complexion. But he was handsome. Not really the person we were all envisioning when God tells us He looks on the heart. But that is where true beauty lies. You can be the most beautiful person in the world, but if you do not have love for neighbor in your heart, you will be ugly, and God sees what is truly in the heart.
It reminds me of the story of the old cowboy who came to worship at a local church one Sunday morning. He put on his best pair of jeans, and his finest flannel shirt and his best hat and brushed off his good boots and felt good going into worship. Members of the church stared at him the whole service, and as the pastor greeted the old cowboy at the back door the pastor told the cowboy, he should take some time and talk to God about how he should dress when he comes into the house of God. Well next week the old cowboy decided to go back to that place of worship, and he put on the same clothes he had worn the week before. He did laundry them of course. As he sat in the pew waiting for worship, the pastor came up to him and asked, I thought I asked you to talk to God about how you should dress when you come to worship here. The old cowboy looked at the pastor and answered him, I talked to God and he said he had never been to this church and so he did not know the dress code.
It is not about appearances. God sees through your motives. So love God and love neighbor and everything else will take care of it self.
aSacredRebel 