Posts Tagged: 1 Samuel 16:7

“The Importance of Looking Good”

“But the LORD said to Samuel, ‘Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the LORD sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart.’” (1 Samuel 16:7, English Standard Version)

3 Do not let your adorning be external—the braiding of hair and the putting on of gold jewelry, or the clothing you wear— 4 but let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God’s sight is very precious. 5 For this is how the holy women who hoped in God used to adorn themselves, by submitting to their own husbands, 6 as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord. And you are her children, if you do good and do not fear anything that is frightening.” (1 Peter 3:3-6, English Standard Version. These verses are from a passage where the author of 1 Peter gives advice to wives and husbands.)

I’ve never been very concerned about looking good. I’ve just realized that I’ve been mistaken about that, or at least very one-sided.

My wife and I went out and worked in the front flower bed yesterday. If it were up to me, I would let winter have its way with the flower beds. What can I tell you? At times, I can be incredibly lazy.

I think that Sharon’s concern with this particular flower bed is at least partially because it is the front flower bed. She is concerned about other people seeing (even in the winter) a scraggly mess of last season’s beauty.

Now, don’t get me wrong. My wife is not a vain person. As with every living human, there might be a trace of that in her, but only a trace. Vain? No! In fact, this morning it hit me like a mighty wave of revelation that she is just plain right. Other people get to—or have to—see our flower bed. We owe it to them, as well as to ourselves, to give them something to look at that is not ugly and disorderly. Yes, even in the winter.

This same principle applies to houses and personal appearance. Looking good isn’t everything, but it is also not nothing. The Bible leans heavily upon inner beauty, and so should we. However, the same Bible that warns us against an overemphasis on outward beauty also has an entire book of love poetry in which the lovers carry on the whole time about how beautiful and handsome their loved one is. The book is called “The Psalm of Psalms”, which is the Hebrew way of saying “the very best of psalms”.

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