APPEARANCES

I always feel as if people judge who I am by my image. How does God evaluate who I am?

God's Response:
The lord said to Samuel, "Don't judge by his appearance of height, for I have rejected him. The Lord doesn't see things the way you see them. People judge by outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart."
1 Samuel 16:7

As for me, it matters very little how I might be evaluated by you or by any human authority. I don't even trust my own judgment on this point. My conscience is clear, but that doesn't prove I'm right. It is the Lord himself who will examine me and decide.
I Corinthians 4:3-4

The Lord's light penetrates the human spirit, exposing every hidden motive.
Proverbs 20:27

Our Takeaway:
God judges by faith and character, by what He sees on the inside, not by appearances. And because only God can see what's on the inside, only He can accurately judge people. Most people spend hours each week maintaining their outward appearances; they should spend even more time developing their inner character.

Everyone can see your face, but only God knows what your heart really looks like. What steps are you taking to improve what God sees in your heart?

God's Challenge:
May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing to You, O Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer.
Psalm 19:14

Big T's Thought To Ponder:
My thoughts this morning are twofold.

Within a few weeks following my very physical coming to know Jesus experience, an experience in which at that very moment I knew, that I knew, that I knew, that He was the only Way to have life and the have it abundantly, fully and completely! I realized right then He was the purpose for my life, there wasn't even a minuscule of doubt in my mind or heart because after (46) years there was an immediate overwhelming satisfaction, peace and completeness within me - some of you have heard me call it the "off switch". That moment where God made an exchange - empty dead old shell of a man vs. fully alive newly restored man.

As I was saying, just a few weeks after receiving Christ, a brother from church came beside me and began to mentor me and teach me about Jesus Christ, about Biblical instruction and about how we were to act as Christians. He said something I never really understood - "Tony you want to be extremely careful with who you share your testimony with, you don't want to share it with just anybody!"

I never understood this - why? Why would I ever want to be unwilling to share the wonderful blessing and miracles of God and what He had done in my life. This brother said that there are people, people in the world, people in my church and people in my life that would use my testimony against me. That there were people who would judge me for the things that I had done in the past and use them to hurt me in some way.

Three thoughts I have about this: First, I didn't and still don't care what people think about me; I really don't care if they judge me for who I once was because God has given me complete assurance that I am no longer that old man. Secondly, I spent Forty Six years pleasing myself and all those around me, I no longer has a desire to be a manpleaser, but to please only One, the man that saved my life - Jesus Christ my Lord and Savior! Lastly, I really don't consider it "my" testimony, it should be called "His" testimony or "The" testimony. It is the testimony and witness of the blessings and miracles that God has performed in our lives. Why wouldn't we want to share it, shout it and publish it every change we have?
Galatians 2:20; II Corinthians 5:17; Ephesians 4:20-24

The second fold of my thought this morning is again relating to appearance, physical and outwardly appearance. I have struggled with my weight most of my life and I have been judged, ridiculed and made fun of because of my obesity. Actually, at some point they classify it as "morbid obesity" when you get to be my size, I guess this means big fat guy plus.

My dad had a saying I never forgot: "Beauty is only skin deep, but ugliness goes clear to the bone". Outwardly appearance really doesn't matter to God, it is truly the stuff we are made of on the inside that counts! I do have one confession, I am really excited about the new body that the Lord promises us all...

In the "Our Takeaway" segment above it asks us, what steps are we taking to improve our hearts?

Big T's thought regarding us trying to improve ourselves in any-way-shape-or-form, especially our hearts is simple - DON'T! Don't attempt to improve yourself, ask our Glorious Savior take care of this for you! He alone is the only One in the business of Conforming and Transforming of hearts and minds, if we try to do anything on our own we are very likely to make a mess of things. So as the old saying goes, Do Not Attempt This At Home... Apart from Him we can do nothing!
John 15:1-5

"Create in me a clean heart, O god, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me away from Your presence. And do not take Your Hold Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of Your salvation, And uphold me by Your generous Spirit.
Psalm 51:10-12

How can we be sure that God has changed our hearts? God's Word makes it clear, when our hearts have changed, we experience the love of God. "He who does not love does not know God, for God is love," (I John 4:8). Our hearts are changed as the Holy Spirit touches our hearts with God's Word. "The love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us," (Romans 5:5)

Allow God to give you a new loving heart today, be blessed!