Introduction

A man walks into the doctor and says, ‘excuse me, doctor, I swallowed a set of curtains’, to which the doctor replied, ‘oh pull yourself together’. Another man goes into the doctor and says, ‘doctor, I feel like a pack of cards,’ to which the doctor replies, ‘be quiet, I’ll deal with you later.’

Pictures of people from all over the world. What do all these people need inside them to live? They have a heart. Now you can’t see their heart it is there or they would be dead.

Some of you have probably seen one of these before. It is an x-ray. Many times when we go to the doctor, he cannot tell if we have something wrong just by looking at us. We may look just fine on the outside, but there might be something wrong on the inside. To see what is on the inside, the doctor takes an x-ray.

Picture of some x-rays. By looking at the x-ray, the doctor can see what’s on the inside and helps us to get well. You can’t always tell by looking at the outside. Let’s look at some pictures of you guys. (x-ray pictures)

“Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” 1 Samuel 16: 7

Now you can’t always tell what a person is really like by looking at the outside. Some people may be beautiful on the outside, but they may be very mean, selfish, and hateful on the inside. Some people may not be very beautiful to look at, but on the inside, they are loving, gentle, and kind, which is the way God wants us to be.

“Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as braided hair and the wearing of gold jewellery and fine clothes. Instead, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight.” 1 Peter 3:3-4

We spend a lot of time making sure we look good on the outside, make up, hair, clean clothes etc. But what are we doing to make sure we look good on the inside? When we look at people, we need to remember that we can only see what’s on the outside, but God can see what’s on the inside and it’s what’s inside that counts.

Pictures of more people, where are they from, and what are they like? Which one is a Christian? You can’t tell by looking at them. You can tell where these people are from because of the way they dress but you can’t tell anything about them as a person or if they are a Christian.

Don’t judge people by their outward appearance!

“The Lord does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” 1 Samuel 16:7

I have a friend who is a rock collector. Pictures of rough-edged rocks. I probably wouldn’t make a very good rock collector, because if I saw a rock lying on the ground that looks like this one, I probably would not even bother to stop and pick it up.

Pictures of the inside of a rough-edged rock. My friend knows that you can’t judge a rock by what it looks like on the outside. A rock that looks like this on the outside may be beautiful on the inside. So my friend picks up the rocks and looks on the inside and polishes them into something beautiful.

The same thing is true about the way God looks at people.

“The Lord does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” 1 Samuel 16:7

We can tell how people look, but God can tell what they are. People look at the eyes and are pleased with the sparkle that appears in them, but God looks at the heart and sees the thoughts and intents of that.

God x-rays our hearts and looks for holiness and goodness. He doesn’t look at how handsome we are or how strong we are or how our bodies look. Skinny, fat, plump, He looks at the true beauty which is within.

Pictures of book covers, ask what each book is about. Explain. Dr Who and the Tardis. Doesn’t look much from the outside but inside it’s huge. Do you ever make the mistake of judging people by the way they look on the outside? I’m ashamed to say that I do.

I love that old film, ‘The Gringe’. Now the Gringe was rejected by the Who’s as a child and lived in spiteful seclusion for most of his life, and so because of that he always hated the citizens of Whoville. And so he takes revenge to steal Christmas from Whoville with the help of his dog Max.

Especially at Christmas time with the Who’s noise, phoney attitude, and wasteful materialism. However, a young girl named Cindy Lou knows that the Gringe was misunderstood and so she goes off to him to make him welcome again and show him a kind heart. Now that little girl looked past the Gringe’s looks, she looked at his heart.

Wouldn’t it be better if we looked at people’s hearts the way God does?

My friend took some ugly old rocks and polished them up and turned them into something beautiful. And if we are truthful with each other, we could say the same about ourselves because we had really ugly hearts which were filled with all kinds of evil.

“The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.” Galatians 5:19-21

But when we became Christians God polishes those rough edges away and helps us to become beautiful where it counts. God helps us to get rid of all those nasty things we have in our hearts and if we allow Him to, He will replace them with beautiful things.

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things, there is no law.” Galatians 5:22-24

We should not judge people by the way they look on the outside. It’s what’s on the inside that counts.

“Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.” Psalm 139:23-24

Let’s try and look at people the way looks at people because it really is what’s on the inside which counts.