Day 2

1 Samuel 10:23-24

23 They ran and brought him out, and as he stood among the people he was a head taller than any of the others. 24 Samuel said to all the people, “Do you see the man the Lord has chosen? There is no one like him among all the people.”
Then the people shouted, “Long live the king!”

How would your life change if you could judge every person by the heart just as quickly as you judged them by their appearance? Appearances drive so much of our culture. The way someone looks can define how people interact with them. A handsome man or beautiful woman garners the attention and affections of many. Outward appearances though can be deceiving.

Saul was a man that from the outside looked like the best choice for king. There was no one like him among the people. But oh, how the people would have chosen differently had they looked at his heart rather than his height! He was ill-tempered, selfish, and jealous.

Looks can be deceiving and in order for us to judge according to the heart, it takes patience. We must pause our conclusions about a person, have the patience to get to know them, and invest the time to discover what’s inside. I think it would be great to judge the heart as fast as we judge the appearance, but God doesn’t want that. Instead, He wants us to do the work of investing into people to truly discover who they are. That means reserving our judgments until we have come to know their heart not just their height.

The next time you find yourself making judgements, good or bad, about a person’s appearance, stop and ask God for the patience to reserve any judgement until you discover their heart.