Is Appearance Really Everything

"In today's society there is a tendency to base people
on their physical appearances and forget what their
personality may be. A person who seems sweet and innocent
may be the devil in disguise, and a person who seem a
little rough may be the best friend everyone needs." (from http://jackash09.weebly.com/fair-is-foul-and-foul-is-fair.html)

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 people look at. 

People look at the outward appearance, but the 

Lord looks at the heart.”

1 Samuel 16:7

Our appearance according to others

We are critiqued on a daily basis on our appearance.  That is the first thing we are judged upon.  This could apply to the clothes you wear, your facial expressions or even just your physical appearance.  It will always be something that is taken into account no matter what we do, just like out abilities.
I wish that athletes sometimes could get chosen based on their heart and how much they work alone and not give up, and not by how well they do in a competition to get sponsored but that's not the reality of the situation.  This applies to our appearance as well.  

I have worked in the fitness industry for almost 4 years now and I get the amazing pleasure of wearing workout clothes all day long, which I find very comfortable.  Others wear business clothes or dressy casual, some wear uniforms.  I have worked in an industry that called for business casual dress and only on occasions could we wear workout clothes, appropriate by all means.  And I just couldn't seem to get the hang of it.  My business casual clothes, jeans, were too tight.  Sometimes I got it right, sometimes I didn't.  Needless to say that job didn't work out.  I know we all sometimes just want to stay in our big baggy sweat pants and hoodies to go to the grocery store, but I remember something someone told me and lord knows I don't remember who.  

My every day clothes

Dressed up for a Military Holiday Ball
last year.

"You never know who you are going to meet!"  

When it comes to our careers or even those looking for love it is completely true.  I could be dressed in my baggy pants and sweat shirt and run into someone who could provide me with a great career opportunity, but how likely are they to give you a chance if you are dressed like that.  Unfortunately, our outward appearance shows how put together we are.  Now I'm not going to give out fashion advise because I even feel out of date and wish I had clothes that I thought looked better than what I have.  I envy some of the fashion I see.  That's besides the point.  To survive in this world our outward appearance is important to others.  So always pull off your best you even on the bad days.

Our Appearance According the God

But to the Lord our God, our outward appearance does not matter.  It was the poor who were the most faithful to God, not the prophets who were dressed in their extravagant robs and jewels.  Even back then, their appearance represented a rank in society just as it sometimes does now.  Those who were teachers were always trying to accuse Jesus for claiming to be the Son of God, that they were right and that he was lying.  The felt as if they were privileged and an exception to God's laws because of their status.  That he was wrong for performing works on the Sabbath and they were not.  We can speak great words without having the best of intentions.  It is not our glamorous appearance that matters to the Lord and how we look on the outside but how our heart looks and is on the inside.  We could do all these good deeds but if we do them with bad intentions, for our own personal gain, then we have an ugly heart.  Doing things for our own personal gain will only.

"Lying lips are an abomination to the Lord, 

but those who act faithfully are his delight."

Proverbs 12:22

"Better is a poor man who walks in his integrity 

than

 a rich man who is crooked in his ways."

Proverbs 28:6

So it is not our appearance to the Lord that matters it is our heart and our intentions.  How we treat others.  Do we help people truly for our own personal gain or do we help them out of compassion.  
Challenge:  do something to help someone out that you wouldn't normally do this week.

Remember we are to do the work of the Lord and through something that we have a passion for.  Everything you do, needs to be to glorify him and to the benefit of others.

" “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?  Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?

 “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin.  Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these.  If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith?  So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’  For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.  But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.  Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own."

Matthew 6:25-34