1 Samuel 16 v7

But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.

Perhaps we know not to judge by outward appearances, but to consider a persons heart.  But it is a hard thing to do in practice, it’s very easy to make a judgment based on appearances.  And we all know this, so we make great efforts to appear good – not just in physical  appearances, but also to be viewed in a positive social light by our community.

How much of our lives are governed by the tyranny of the veneer?  How much effort to we put into appearances?  We want people to like us – we know what we ought to be, and because we cannot even meet our own expectations, we end up putting so much effort into appearances. We all wear masks, we all know others wear them too – and by some unspoken agreement we keep the joint pretense going.  Hypocrisy works best in a group setting.

I found myself pondering this recently, and then I wondered what it will look like one day, when the veneer of our lives gets stripped away, when who we really are emerges from the shell.  I suspect most of us would shudder at the thought.

Which is why it really all comes back to Jesus .  Clothed in His righteousness, in the wedding garment of the lamb, what emerges is spotless and without stain. His righteousness covers us, literally blots out the stain of sin and corruption.  As if it had never been there.  Now, that is Good News!