How do you look? Do you assess yourself, capabilities, dreams
and visions based on the affirmation of your pastor, friends, families or a
sense of self worth? “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.” 1Samuel 16:7. The outward appearance or mirror images of
how we look have taken over so many areas of our lives, service to God and our
relationships with each other. Many of us never took time to look deep into our
hearts to know who we truly are in Christ. Why should we do that when the
mirror, both physically and spiritually tells us we are awesome? There are so
many mirrors out there that show us to be the ‘most beautiful in the land’ even
when we know secretly that there are spiritual warts and blackheads on our
spiritual faces. No wonder as children of God, we look to these mirrors to
determine the choice of a life partner, jobs, college admission, choice of
course of study, where to live, what to wear, what to eat… The list is endless.
It is sad to note that a lot of people in the Body of Christ are like Eliab,
the elder brother of David, who go to God for consecration but come out
unchanged; hearts unchanged – unbelieving believers! So many are said to be
godly because of the reflection that is seen of them, however the real question
is what exactly does God see when He looks at us? Does He see pride, arrogance,
disobedience, falsehood and all manner of fleshly attitudes? Friend, it is not
about what people declare about you, there is only one mirror that reflects the
true reflection of the person and that is God’s word. When you look into the
perfect law of liberty, what do you see? Do you see a call to live lives as we
please since our sins have been nailed to the cross over two thousand years
ago? Do you see a reflection that says, do, say, live as you please because God
is your father? Or you try to dress it up by giving false impressions to others
through false pious conversations, devotion to church programmes but with
hearts that have refused to remain with Christ after consecration? Friend,
consecration is not the end but the beginning of the walk. David had a
wonderful walk with God such that he did not only get consecrated; he remained
on the mountain of consecration. When the Lord looked at the heart of Eliab, He
did not find godly desire, godly fear or a heart that pants after Him even
though his heart went through the consecration process yet he was rejected.
Though his physical appearance, like a lot of believers seemed acceptable but
he was rejected because the Mirror of all mirrors saw that there was something
that gave a lie to his physical appearance. Friend, look into the Mirror today
which is the word of God and adjust accordingly. If you do then, indeed you are
the most beautiful in the land. God bless you.
"When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to him and said, “I am God Almighty; Walk [habitually] before Me [with integrity, knowing that you are always in My presence], and be blameless and complete [in obedience to Me]" (Genesis 17:1, AMP). A while back, I overheard a conversation between two young men; both were wondering how a person can be and remain holy in a world that daily encourages you to exhibit and enjoy every self-indulgent pleasure one desires. Of course, they knew the Scripture in Psalm 119:9-11, which describes how a young man can keep his way pure, but they feel it is increasingly becoming difficult to discern the way of the Lord from the world system. To them, many Pastors and children of God have been won over by the kingdom of darkness to subvert the principles of God as written in the Bible. They were not wrong, in light of some of the teaching coming from the pulpits! The above ...
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