Do We Look At The Heart Or The Outward Appearance?

My sons and I will be going back to Kamloops in July to do the music and drama for the children's summer Vacation Bible School. This year's program is called "Sky VBS," and the theme is: "Nothing is impossible with God" (Mark 10:27).

The program is designed so that, each day of the week, the children will learn a new Bible point/verse and Bible story. For the next ten days, I will go through each Bible point and Bible story so that I can prepare myself for writing the five dramas that my sons and I will act out to reinforce the message for each day.

The first day Bible point is: "No matter who you are . . . trust God!" In other words, it doesn't matter how young or old you are, how much education or work experience you have, where you live, or how much money you have, you are to trust God always.

The supporting Bible verse is:

"But the Lord said to Samuel,

'Do not consider his appearance or his height,

for I have rejected him.

The Lord does not look at the things man looks at.

Man looks at the outward appearance,

but the Lord looks at the heart.'"

1 Samuel 16:7 (NIV)

God told His prophet Samuel to go to the house of Jesse to anoint one of Jesse's sons as the next king. However, God did not tell Samuel ahead of time which of Jesse's sons to anoint. As Jesse presents each of his seven oldest sons to Samuel, one by one, God tells Samuel, "No, that's not the one." Perplexed, Samuel asks Jesse if he has any more sons, and Jesse responds by saying that he still has his youngest son who they left in the field tending the sheep because he was far too young and small for God to choose as the next king. Well, surprise! They were all wrong. David, Jesse's youngest son, was the one God had chosen. God doesn't look at the size, age, or physical appearance of people. He sees much deeper. God sees the heart, and we need to trust God's decision.

People haven't changed much over the years. The majority of Churches chose pastors and worship leaders mainly because of their outward appearance, talents, and charisma, and not because of the content of their heart. There aren't many pastors today who care deeply about others and love God earnestly, and there aren't many worship leaders who focus on worshiping God rather than on themselves and the music. Man looks at the outward appearance, but God looks at the heart. We need to do the same. I'd much rather see an unattractive person on stage who stumbles over his/her words and sings off key, but loves God with all his/her heart, than an attractive person who is eloquently spoken and sings perfect pitch, but loves him/herself more. One of the reasons why God's kingdom isn't advancing as quickly in our country because we focus too much on outward appearances.