appearances & the heart
I’m training to run a 5k. In my 33 years of life, I have never, not ever – not even kind of – run longer than 1 mile.
I was forced to attempt to run a mile in 5th grade PE turned, which turned into a humiliating disaster as I tripped in front of my classmates, tumbled a few feet down an asphalt road, and tore the skin off my knee. Other than that instance, I’ve always avoided running because, well, it’s hard and I don’t like sweating.
My husband texted me earlier in the week, wishing me luck on my run. I sent him back a picture of myself, sweaty and red-faced but breathlessly proud I had accomplished the goal for the day.
After I showered, curled my hair, and put on makeup, I sent my husband a picture of my post-gym self and said, “you can keep this one… delete the other.”
You know the difference between those two pictures?
About an hour and half.
That’s it. The same woman is in both pictures. She’s doing different things, and in a different setting, but the pictures were taken minutes apart – displaying drastically different appearances.
From outward appearances, Saul was the perfect man to be the king of Israel. He was the people’s choice - tall and strong and commanded attention. But his heart was in the wrong place. By the end of his kingship, Saul’s relationship with God was fractured. His heart was far from God, and God’s spirit was removed from him.
The prophet Samuel was sent to anoint the next king, and this one was God’s choice. He arrived, almost certain of who the next king would be when God reminded him, “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” (1 Samuel 16:7)
This is such a freeing, yet difficult truth for me, friends. I can easily find myself giving far more attention to my appearance, and the appearances of others, than considering the heart.
I make quick assumptions about others, and pick apart myself, based on what my eyes can see. But so often what we can see is actually misleading and far from the truth.
God sees the depths of the heart. Past the makeup and the filters and the great efforts we give to altering our appearances. He is more concerned about who we are than what we look like. As you can see, an hour and a half can transform me dramatically, and even though I can alter my appearance on the outside, it is God who sees and can change what’s happening on the inside.
A shower and a fresh face a makeup can make me feel like a new woman. But my prayer is that God would make me a transformed woman. That He would take my heart and change it, making it more like Christ’s so that when He looks at me, He is pleased by what He sees.
