Be Real - By Valuing People!
Today’s topic has implications that impact both our walk with God and the people in our lives. Jesus makes abundantly clear what the most important commandment is in the Bible – Love God and love people. Each of us was created in the image of God and the value on our lives is of supreme value to God. Yet, we can lose sight of this divine reality and mistakenly view people and ourselves with a worldly filter. Consequently, we diminish their value in our hearts and minds.
If we aren’t careful, we can find ourselves seeking and attributing value based on someone’s outward appearance. Be Real – by valuing people! Our text this morning comes from 1 Samuel 16:6-7.
Context: Saul, the first king of Israel, demonstrated a lack of commitment to God as evidenced through deliberately disobeying on two occasions. Samuel has delivered God’s message to Saul – “And Samuel said to him, ‘The LORD has torn the kingdom of Israel from you this day and has given it to a neighbor of yours, who is better than you’ (1 Sam. 15:28). We are told that the Lord is looking for a man to serve as king whose heart is wholly committed to Him (1 Sam. 13:14). Samuel is sent by the Lord to identify and anoint the next king of Israel and Samuel learns that God is not as concerned with the external as He is with the internal.
Lesson: Samuel is sent to the household of a man named Jesse with the knowledge that one of his sons would be the next king. Seven of Jesse’s sons were presented to Samuel – each time causing him to think, surely this is the one! However, none of these men were God’s selection for Israel’s king. The Lord tells Samuel – “But the Lord said to Samuel, do not look on his appearance or 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).”
Valuing other people based on their outward appearance will keep us from viewing them how God views them. This is a problem because our tendency is to compare ourselves to others and this typically leads to a prideful view of self or shameful view of self. What we need to understand is that the people we interact with are not attributed value based on their looks or abilities by the Lord. We should strive to know the hearts of others and this requires that we be real.
Application: God’s primary concern is our hearts because this houses our desires and informs the direction of our lives. If our hearts are wholly devoted to God than our outward self with follow. Consequently, it is important that we view other people as more than their external actions and strive to know the heart behind the actions. Let’s consider how we treat people and strive to see them as God does – uniquely made in His image for His glory.