Our society is caught up in what can be seen. Fashion is a billion plus dollar a year industry because it knows that what people wear is noticed day in and day out. We spend countless hours in our closet picking out just the right outfit to be seen by those we come in contact with. I have been colorblind since birth so what I see is different than what others see and I haven’t been into color coordination as a result of my limitation.

But I have been on the roller-coaster of weight control over my lifetime. Sometimes more concerned at times than at other times. I see in the mirror things that I don’t want to see and causes me to either feel guilty or take steps to try to get the weight off. What is visible to us and to others marks our minds and causes us to make an evaluation about ourselves or others unfortunately. It could be the weight that we carry or how tall we are, or our physical abilities. But we all at one time or other get sucked into looking at the visual impressions that our eyes see and respond or react accordingly.

What’s different when we connect with the Lord is that His perspective of us is not determined by the visual attributes of our make-up. God had determined to change leadership of Israel by replacing King Saul with someone else. Saul was a physical specimen who was head and shoulders taller than all the other individuals living in that nation. He was chosen by the prophet Samuel before and Samuel had the task of choosing the new king to replace Saul.

So what does Samuel do when he is given the task of finding a new king for Israel? He looks at the same thing that you and I would do. He looked at the physical appearance of potential candidates. “But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look at his appearance or his stature because I have rejected him. Humans do not see what the Lord sees, for humans see what is visible, but the Lord sees the heart.”” 1 Samuel‬ ‭16:7‬ ‭CSB‬‬

Think about this passage for a minute. God does not care how tall we are. How short we are. How heavy we are. What we are wearing. Whether our hair is combed or messy. Whether we have a sweater on or not. Whether we have boots on or shoes. Whether we have gained all the weight we lost. God does not look on our physical appearance. Period. He is not looking at how smart we are. He is not looking at what we have accomplished. He is not looking at how much money we have accumulated in the bank. He doesn’t look at the physical attributes that take most of our thought process.

God looks at the heart. Period. He is looking at our intentions when we say or do certain things. He is looking at the attitudes that drive our actions. He is looking at our motivations for the actions that we take. None of the physical things that we spend so much time with is of interest to the Lord. He is only concerned with our heart as we go about our daily tasks. How would our daily lives and our thoughts about our life change if we plugged into what is most important to the Lord? How much time could you save if you had the mindset of the Lord? What would happen to your productivity if you focused on cultivating your heart versus your physical appearance? What about your relationships with others? How different would we parent if we had this mindset? What would our marriage relationships be like if we focused on cultivating our hearts versus our physical characteristics?

On this journey, we have the opportunity begin to change our mindset from looking and cultivating the physical aspects of our life to cultivatIng our heart, our attitudes, and our motivations. We can choose today to begin this transformation process by seeking the One who has the power to change our hearts.