by Dona Hake
The other evening I went to a Christian bookstore in my area. It was on my heart to purchase some little story books for my Granddaughters that were godly. It was one of those “I’ll know it when I see it” type of search. I was able to find three storybooks that I was extremely excited about. I was heading to the cash register, and I felt drawn to this huge table. There was nothing exciting about this table at all in fact it was somewhat drab looking. All that lay on the table were about three unwanted items that were not selling. I immediately felt drawn to pick up one of the items that was a book specific to devotions for children. As I paged through it I was so excited. It’s childlike simplicity yet beautiful spiritual depth made me just know that I had to have it. Here is the funny thing about this book. It was laying on the table basically because they were trying to get rid of it. A book that originally sold for $15.99 was now 90% off. I bet you are wondering why…the reason was that it was damaged in shipment. The top corner of the book took a beating on it’s way from the publisher. The first thing I said to myself after I thought about it….”I am glad I did not judge this book by it’s cover!” I was so sold on what was inside the book before I even noticed the damaged cover! To me it was nothing a good piece of clear shipping tape could not mend. So I walked out of the store with a book that cost me only $1.59!!!
My experience that evening at the bookstore reminded me of human nature and how we want things to be all so perfect….especially if we are buying it brand new. Things like this can teach us little lessons with big spiritual significance. It reminded me that many times we miss seeing the truth about a situation because we permit other things such as imperfections and weaknesses to cloud our judgments, and we do not see things for what they really are. It reminds me that sometimes we may prejudge people by the outward appearance, and we do not even give them a chance to show us their heart. May we be reminded that God is always looking at hearts. Let us look at people’s hearts through the love of Jesus and love them with His love.
1 Samuel 16:7 Easy To Read Version
“God doesn’t look at what people see. People judge by what is on the outside, but the Lord looks at the heart…”