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But the Lord looks at the heart

Judith Edmonds shares a word of encouragement for those of us who feel that our looks or achievements don’t measure up to what we see around us, especially in the media.

Are you dissatisfied with yourself? Why?  Is it because other people tell you that you could look better if…?  Or is it because you look in the mirror and wish you looked like that lovely-looking model in the magazine or on TV?  Do you wish you could do all those things that other people do?
 
Turn this around.  Are other people looking at you or looking at their mirrors and saying I wish I looked like, or I wish I could do what, her/she does (strangely enough, meaning you)?  The thing is - your perception and their perception differ, but there is one person’s perception that is reliable and that is God’s. 
 
He values and loves all of us.  He gave us different appearances; He gave us different skills for a purpose.  It would be a strange world where everyone looked the same and everyone had the same talents.  It would be a very dysfunctional planet!
 
Recently, I was admiring a friend’s outfit and said, “I wish I could wear the style you wear”.  Imagine my surprise when I heard the reply.  She said, “Don’t be silly, of course you can: I always look at you and admire how you look”.  Ponder on that.
 
Just remember, too, that when a highly qualified surgeon performs his complicated procedures, he relies upon the skills of those cleaners who make his theatre and equipment fit for purpose.  He could not do his job without them doing theirs.  I see that as equal importance – they totally rely on each other.
 
God values more than what people look like or what they can do.  The important part of us that He sees is our hearts.  As it says in the Bible in 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 people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart”
 
God sees us all as beautiful when we accept Him into our lives.  What contentment we can have: what peace to be at ease with ourselves.

Photo by Min An from Pexels
 



judith edmundsJudith Edmonds is a member of Park Baptist Church and editor and webmaster of Network Yarmouth, the Christian community news website for the Great Yarmouth area.

 

 




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