By: Pastor Jarren Rogers

“External beauty cannot hide internal ugliness.” – Neil Anderson and Dale Park

How much time do you spend getting ready in the morning? How much time do you spend on your hair, putting on make-up, or ironing your clothes? How much time do you spend each day to make sure your appearance is top notch?

While I don’t think there is anything wrong with wanting to look nice before we go out each morning, you have to admit that we, as humans, care A LOT about our outward appearance.

Fun fact for you. In 2016, Americans spent over 16 billion dollars on cosmetic plastic surgeries and minimally invasive procedures. If that doesn’t show how much we care about our looks, I don’t know what does.

But we serve a God who doesn’t take outward appearance into account.

“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).

What if we spent as much time on our spiritual appearance as we did on our physical appearance? What if we cared as much about making our hearts presentable to God as we cared about making ourselves presentable for others?

God doesn’t care what you look like, He cares what your heart looks like. He cares about your thoughts and your intentions. He cares about who you love and how you love.

God also doesn’t care what other people think about you. He made you you. He loves you for you. People will look at your outward appearance. They will judge you, talk about you, and hurt you.

It’s inevitable.

But take heart, because our God is a God who knows who you are more than you know who you are. He is a God who judges not based on appearance but based on your based on your heart.

He loves you so much. He does not look at things that people look at. He looks at how you love others and how you love Him.

People will throw you out and cast you away. They will discourage you with their words and leave you in a blink of an eye.

But, the Lord looks at the heart.

This is the battle cry for the outcast. The word of hope for the lonely. The promise for the exile. The assurance for the deserted. The confidence of the destitute. The testimony of the abandoned.

Parents: Explain to your children how God looks at them differently than humans. Tell them that God looks at their heart and just like they keep their outer appearance presentable, they should keep their heart presentable to God.