Thoughts for another day

March 12, 2007

Today's verse: 1 Sam. 16:7. For the LORD seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart. (KJV)
(Pls. read the above before you read further. Thanks)

We Christians have a penchant for looking at the outward appearances of people and making our opinions depending, on what we see. The result is that many-a-times we are wrong and consequently suffer. For e.g. there are very suave looking people who come to us, asking us to invest in a scheme they propose. They seem to be so knowledgeable that we are very impressed with the first meeting. Taking our stupidity further, we invest and then after a while, we realize we have been conned but it’s too late.

Today’s Word is a good reminder of this trait of ours, of looking at the externals. It should provoke us to see others in the way God sees. God looks beneath the skin and discovers the goodness in human beings. When Jesus looked up at the Sycamore tree and saw Zacchaeus, He did not see him as the people saw him, rather as a beautiful soul who needed to be touched; and one who would respond immediately (Lk. 19:1-10). See how the whole thing turned out: Zacchaeus immediately accepted the offer of the Messiah and became eligible for the Kingdom.

Now contrast this with a man who came to Jesus with the question of how to inherit eternal life in Mk. 10:17-22. Now I am sure this man was not considered sinful. Rather, because he had observed the commandments from his birth and had meticulously kept them, he would probably have been considered pious too. But then, Jesus looked inside of him and sure enough, the man failed the test.

The folly of judging based on the externals has been pretty rampant with us humankind. It is God who alone always sees the inside and it is God who sets us offices in His Kingdom depending on what He sees. To the whole world you may be a misfit. But to God you are perfect. Let us today adopt that approach and see the gems where otherwise we are able to see only dirt.