Don’t Assign Value According to Appearance

1 Samuel 16:7,

“Man looks at the outward appearance, but God looks at the heart.”

God gave this message to Samuel some three thousand years ago, and it’s a message that is no less true today than it was back then. We, humans, are prone to look at the outward appearance of others.

Not “look” as to make observations (this person is tall, short, blond, brunette, and so on), but “look” with an eye to make observations and then translate them into assessments of worth.

“I’m going to give more of myself (my time, my energy, my warmth, my patience, my winsomeness) to this person, because I find them to be more impressive in appearance than others. And I want to be around the visually impressive. I want to be associated with them. I don’t want to have my value brought down by associating with those of more plain appearance. I want my value to go up via my nearness to the fine and fair.”

It’s something we’ve all done, I mean: Have you moved toward certain visitors to this church because of their jewelry and clean clothing? Have you let other visitors pass on by because of their lack thereof?

Have you favored certain members of your Community Group because they appear to you to be more visually impressive? Have you treated others as small and insignificant because you didn’t find them to be so?

It’s something we’ve all done, and it’s something our God flat-out condemns. James warns,

“My brothers, show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory. For if a man wearing a gold ring and fine clothing comes into your assembly, and a poor man in shabby clothing also comes in, and if you pay attention to the one who wears the fine clothing and say, 'You sit here in a good place,' while you say to the poor man, 'You stand over there,' or, 'Sit down at my feet,' have you not then made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?”

God calls it evil, my brothers and sisters, to assign value based upon appearance. And the fact of the matter is that if our Lord Jesus himself were to walk into this church, wearing the same thing and looking the same way he did two centuries ago when he walked the shores of Galilee, we would not judge his appearance impressive, let alone the vast majority of the people he spent his time with.

But while unredeemed man looks at the outward appearance, Jesus, the perfect God-man, looked and continues to look, at the heart. As his redeemed people, so should we.

And this reminds us of our need to pray.

And for all the other ways we’ve sinned and fallen short this week we come before you now in this moment of silent confession.