Outward Appearances

When Samuel was sent by the Lord to find the next king of Israel, the Lord told him this: “Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature… for the Lord seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart” (1 Samuel 16:7).  This is a message that we see throughout the scriptures: the world usually only focuses on outward appearances, while it is the heart that is important to the Lord.  

One place that the Lord makes this clear is in the Sermon on the Mount.  He told his followers: “And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men” (Matt. 6:5).  In other words we should not be motivated to do seemingly righteous acts only to be seen of men.  The Savior continued, “Moreover when ye fast, be not, as the hypocrites, of a sad countenance: for they disfigure their faces, that they may appear unto men to fast” (Matt. 6:16). Again, the message for disciples is that our hearts should be set upon pleasing the Father, not on having the right outward display for other men to see.  Those who professed to be righteousness but did it only for appearances received the strongest rebukes of the Savior while He was on the earth.  He said, “Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men’s bones, and of all uncleanness” (Matthew 23:27).  These scribes and Pharisees of course validated the Savior’s description of them when they sought and supported his crucifixion—they were indeed filled with “dead men’s bones” as they sought murder despite their façade of righteousness.  Jude described the wicked this way: “Clouds they are without water” (Jude 1:12).  I think that’s a very telling description: on the outside they appear to offer life-sustaining water, but on the inside they really have none of it.  Ultimately when we try to feed our souls with the wickedness of the world, there is no sustenance to be had; it is like “as when an hungry man dreameth, and, behold, he eateth; but he awaketh, and his soul is empty: or as when a thirsty man dreameth, and, behold, he drinketh; but he awaketh, and, behold, he is faint, and his soul hath appetite” (Isaiah 29:8).  The only true source of nourishment for the soul comes from God, and we won’t find it by seeking after the alluring yet empty things of the world.  For us we must seek to see with “an eye of faith” as we try to understand the ways of man through the lens of the gospel of Jesus Christ (Ether 12:19).  Though in our day we are bombarded with worldly images each day, we should seek to be able to answer no to Paul’s question: “Do ye look on things after the outward appearance?” (2 Corinthians 10:7)  The focus of our soul should be on the things of God, and if we do that He will help us “look upon the heart” as we seek to be in the world but not of it.