When God looks at you, He sees the real you, the person you are on the inside. He sees your personality, your family and your history. He knows what you fear and what hurts you. He sees the wounds from your past. He knows who you love and who loves you. He knows who you are.
God says plainly what He sees and values in people in 1st Samuel, Chapter 16, verse 6-7. Samuel was a prophet sent by God to anoint a new king over Israel. Under God’s direction, Samuel travels to Bethlehem to meet with Jesse, a man with eight sons. Samuel knows that one of Jesse’s sons will be the next king of Israel, but he doesn’t know which one. Right away Samuel notices one of the sons [named Eliab], who is tall and handsome, and this is where verse 6 begins:
When they arrived, Samuel saw Eliab and thought, “Surely the Lord’s anointed stands here before the Lord.”
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 man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”
God isn’t biased by what we look like, how much money we make or the image we project to the world. He doesn’t judge us based on our weight, our titles, or the number of wrinkles we have.
In a critical and competitive world, God beckons us to see what really matters.