The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? (Jeremiah 17:9)
As I completed my morning exercise routine and headed back to the hotel that we were staying at for two weeks. I noticed how big and beautiful and well maintained the hotel looked on the outside. It had a grandeur persona about it. It stood tall and the frame was structured to perfection.
But because I was a guest there I knew the inside was not at all the same. Matter of fact it was the total opposite and I was not pleased at all. Because of how beautiful and clean it was on the outskirts of the building, I expected so much more.
I begin to struggle with a question. “Why do they care more about the outside of the building then they do about the inside, after all that’s where the guest have to stay?”
The same thought came to me about us as people. We work so hard at looking so perfect on the outside trying to impress others and could care less about our hearts. We hold our image in great esteem. We put so much focus and effort on the outside and we concentrate so little on our inner self.
People do it all the time in relationships. We tend to choose our mates by what they look like and not who they really are, which causes so many problems. The heart reveals the person. If the heart is wicked it doesn’t matter how wonderful and awesome the makeup is, the man or woman is wicked.
Jesus say’s it like this in Matthew 12:33: Either make the tree good, and his fruit good; or else make the tree corrupt, and his fruit corrupt: for the tree is known by his fruit. In other words people can deceive for only a little while; once they allow you inside you will see just how they really look.
The same with the hotel. I was sold on the outside but the inside made me want my money back. That’s why it’s best to pray about everything before we make any decisions. Proverbs 3:5-7 says, Trust in the LORD with all of your heart; and lean not unto your own understanding in all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths. Be not wise in your own eyes: fear the LORD, and depart from evil.
In 1 Samuel 16 God sent the Prophet Samuel to a man named Jesse to anoint one of his sons as king of Israel. Once Samuel arrived he chose who he thought would be king according to the outer appearance but the LORD said unto Samuel, Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him: for the LORD see not as man see; for man looks on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart.
