May 21

We live in an age that places form over substance in every area of endeavor. In politics, the candidate who has no experience and no viable answers to the perplexities that face a nation can prevail over one of experience simply on the basis of physical appearance and rhetorical style.

The sales pitch of every product from soup to nuts is oriented around not the merits of the item in question but upon the attractiveness of the picture-perfect person promoting it. We’ll buy anything from a car to a beer based upon the allure of the spokesperson touting its merits.

This is a hundred-eighty-degree departure from God’s way of looking at things. God is not nearly as concerned with external appearance as He is with inner reality, and He doesn’t want us to be lured away from His perception into the world’s way of seeing others or of seeing ourselves.

In Psalm 139:15, He declares His view quite emphatically. The Word says, “There is nothing about me that is hidden from You. I am fearfully and wonderfully made.” God esteems His handiwork to be of great value. He admires your outer man and desires to transform your inner man to reflect Jesus.