Appearances

             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)

Oh dear, where can we not go with this? I’m too fat, too ugly, too old… Please don’t disagree; just make a list of how “too” you are. In our society, if we reject those whose skin is too black, brown, red, or yellow, we’re racist monsters - but everyone is welcome to reject someone because their skin is too white or orange. In how many of the areas where we attack ourselves or others is our attack based on appearance?

In the New Testament, this idea is repeated and expanded. James tells us not to consider wealthy appearance. Peter warns that we should not dress in expensive clothes and jewels or consider beautiful appearance. Paul admonishes people not to focus on people’s social class, sex, or racial/national heritage. And while we might remember to “not judge” when we’re looking at someone else when we look in the mirror, the harsh judgments just flow.

We may think we’re being humble and good to attack ourselves in this way, but when we were commanded to love our neighbors as ourselves, we weren’t just given a command, we were given a bit of truth. We cannot love our neighbors other than as we love ourselves. If we judge ourselves based on appearances, we’ll do the same to them, whether elevating them above ourselves or declaring them beneath us based on our standards for those same appearances.