WYSIWYG

1 Samuel 16:7
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."

I am so easily persuaded by what I see, I can be impressed or ‘turned-off’ by what I see. When I was in business we had a phrase “wysiwig” “what-you-see-is-what-you-get”. I would think that what I see is real and based on that I will make my decision, choice, determination.

Appearance is so important today, it has been said “image is everything”. The problem with outward appearance is it doesn’t last. Eventually, we all succumb to our heritage, DNA will not delay the arrival of hair loss or arthritis. We can cover it up, and much money is spent every year to maintain the level of image we are growing accustomed to. The truth is we can not control everything that happens on the shell of us, the part that everyone sees.

What I can influence is what is going on inside of me. God highly values what is happening in our hearts – the real us, the place where we really are. I am glad my body doesn’t go into eternity, I would hate to be stuck with this piece of flesh, but I often can give more attention to my outside and ignore what is going on inside my heart. God looks at our hearts, he knows who we really are and what we really value, regardless what we present on the outside.

David was a man who ran after God’s heart. He trusted God with all his heart and was willing to respond to God in obedience, and because of that God knew He had His man who was capable to lead His people. God is not impressed by the things we are impressed with, He is impressed when He sees a heart that is His and responds to Him.

2 Chronicles 16:9
For the eyes of the LORD range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him.

There is an old saying “you can’t judge a book by it’s cover” and while everyone might agree with that, the truth is we do it, you surely don't believe that 'dust jackets' on books are really there to keep dust off - it is all marketing. The good news is God doesn’t stop reading at the 'dust jacket', he reads our hearts carefully and completely and when He comes into our lives he starts turning on the lights and conditioning our hearts to respond to Him. God is good and He knows that when He has found a heart that will respond to Him, He has found someone who He can express His goodness in and through their lives.

God wants to make His glory known to all His creation and He delights to use the lives of men and women whose hearts are His.

Father, You alone can see the inmost pages of my heart, may you be pleased by it and may you bring what is on the inside of me to the outside so that your glory may be revealed through my life.

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