But the Lord said to Samuel, ‘Do not look at his appearance or at his physical stature, because I have refused him. For the Lord does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.’
I was making a cup of tea the other day and each tea bag holder has a few encouraging words written on it. This one said something like “we see better with our heart than our eyes”. There was no mention of who said this, but it got me thinking quite a bit. Some of what I have been thinking made it into our congregational prayer that I said during church service yesterday. We had communion and the words going through my mind seemed to fit.
When we look out at the world are we looking with our eyes or our hearts? If we look with our eyes, we see people on the streets that we might roll our eyes at or ignore. We might see terrible things going on around us and turn away, not wanting to help or put ourselves out there in any way. But if we see with our hearts, it changes the picture. We see other broken people, just like us, in need of a savior. Other people trampled down by the world just as we are, all because we live in a sinful world. Let what you see move you to action.
When we hear, do we hear with our ears, or do we hear with our hearts? When we hear with our ears, we don’t properly process what is being said. We don’t truly take in what is being said. When we hear with our hearts, we hear the longing. Longing for love from those around as well as the love of our Heavenly Father. When we hear with our hearts, we hear the pain and sorrow brought on by a sinful world. Let what you hear move you to action.
When we speak with our mouths, do we just say whatever we want, not thinking about the meaning or how it might be taken by another? Do we speak words that are hurtful, that tear people down, that crush their spirits? We should always speak with our hearts, speaking words of comfort and compassion. Speaking words of light and love. Speaking from the heart builds people up and is loving even when we need rebuked.
Jesus saw with His heart, heard with His heart, and spoke from His heart. Let’s all follow this example and show what a loving Heavenly Father we all have, a God full of love for each of us. Follow His heart.