Beauty is more than skin deep

Most Monday to Thursday mornings I spend in the Church Office at Priory. When I arrived on Tuesday I headed, as usual, for the kitchen (making a coffee is always a priority on my arrival!) The kitchen was already a hive of activity, as a number of people were busy preparing for Restawhile, our shoppers coffee service which takes place each market day morning. I was somewhat surprised to discover on my arrival that I seemed to be the topic of conversation. Was it Sunday morning's sermon they were discussing? Perhaps some other element of my work as Minister of the church?

I was soon to learn that the topic under discussion was in fact my recent haircut! For many years now my lovely wife, Sue, has cut my hair (and saved me a small fortune in the process). My hair tends to grow rather quickly, and I find that once it gets beyond a certain length it becomes rather difficult to control. With this in mind I had asked Sue to cut it quite short, and that's exactly what she did! Although I have had one or two favourable comments on the new length, on the whole most people don't really appreciate it. Such is life, and anyway it will grow again very soon.

As I reflect on all this, I have been thinking about how often we judge people on the basis of outward appearances. We tend to make assumptions about people by what they are wearing or what they look like. And in the modern media age, looks and appearance seem to be everything. But is a person's outward appearance really what matters?

There is a story on the Bible about the prophet Samuel who is instructed by God to anoint a new king for Israel. Samuel visits a man called Jesse who lives in Bethlehem, and when Samuel sees Jesse's son Eliab, a tall, handsome, strapping fellow, he immediately thinks that he's found the man to be king. But God says to Samuel, “Don’t judge by his appearance or height, for I have rejected him. The Lord doesn’t see things the way you see them. People judge by outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” (1 Samuel 16v7). God doesn't judge by outward appearances and neither should we!