We often times are concerned about appearances, especially today in our modern culture. There are a number of different things we monitor from how we look to how our house looks, or the car we drive.
I have to admit I’ve found myself concerned with some of these same things. Often times it can even be subconscious. We may not even realize we’re so obsessed with how we appear to other people. So, what should I do? Should I not care how I appear to others? Or, if I should care, how much should I care?
I had a situation not that long ago that helped me understand this issue a little better. You see, about nine months ago I had a sinus surgery. This surgery was due to some inflammation I had been having in my sinuses and was meant to relieve some of that. I had a CT taken of my sinuses and it had showed there was a moderate amount of inflammation there. There was something else, though. The doctor said that I also had a deviated septum. His statement was that, “It’s not insignificant.” Meaning that it was drastic enough to probably do something about it. Well, I had never noticed any ill effects from it before. But with the issues my sinuses were giving me I was willing to try about anything. So, I went ahead and decided to do it. They were going to do an endoscopy, which would go in and kind of clean out my sinuses along with a septoplasty, which fixed the deviated septum.
So, I had the surgery. Afterwards the doctor said I probably wouldn’t be back to 100 percent for about 2 months. And his prediction was pretty accurate. Knowledge through experience, I guess. Well, it probably took all of that 2 months before I realized that my nose looked a little different. It wasn’t by a lot. But, yet, it wasn’t quite the same as it was before. It looked straighter for one thing. So, in some ways it looked better. But, this is coming from somebody who also hates change. So, I guess in that sense it was a double whammy. I even became a little self-conscious about it. The reality is that I don’t think anyone else probably even noticed. Except, maybe my Mom, who I think noticed after I had pointed it out.
I was a little upset. I thought, “Why wouldn’t they say something before the surgery.” Why not say that this could make your nose look a little different. I guess I thought that I had a reasonable expectation that, since I wasn’t going in for cosmetic purposes, my nose would look pretty much the same after the surgery. I mean, if they had told me before the surgery, “Hey, we can help you breathe better, but you might end up looking like Klinger from M.A.S.H”, I probably would have said, “Thanks, I’ll pass.” Thankfully it wasn’t that severe, though. Mine was just a minor change. And it was probably so minor that the doctor might not have even given it a second thought.
Over time, though, I’ve found that I learned something from this about myself. I know what you’re going to ask, “Was it that you’re really vain?” Well, yeah, I have to admit that was part of it. Anyway, besides being vain, I learned that not only was the change in the appearance of my nose minor, but that one aspect of me and who I was as a person was minor. Of all the things I am and the person that I am, it’s of such minor importance as to hardly register on the scale. I’ve realized, if I focus on my character as much as I was concerned about my nose that I won’t even care about my nose. And other people won’t even either.
Often times, things like this sneak up on us. We may not realize we’re obsessing over such a minor, trivial thing in our lives. Or, why we’re obsessing over them. So, does it matter how we appear to other people. Sure, to some degree. I mean, it’s probably best not to walk around with a ketchup stain on your shirt. The problem comes when appearances are the motivating force in our lives.
So, at the end of the day I’m glad that this happened to me. I learned something about myself and also about life. Plus I can breathe a lot better!
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So, here’s a good Bible verse. In this verse God was talking to Samuel. Samuel was to choose a King to rule over Israel and Samuel saw someone that he thought looked like the right candidate, one of Jesse’s sons named Eliab. So, it says in 1 Samuel 16:7: “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 seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart.” Following this, all of Jesse’s sons were brought before Samuel except for one. Samuel then asked if these were all the sons he had. Jesse said that there was one more but he was keeping the sheep. Samuel then asked him to be brought before him and in 1 Samuel 16:12 it says, “And he sent, and brought him in. Now he was ruddy, and withal of a beautiful countenance, and goodly to look to. And the Lord said, Arise, anoint him: for this is he.”
Now, the point of this here isn’t that David was a good-looking guy. The point is that, based on his appearance in the natural, he was probably the last person anyone would have selected to be the next King of Israel. He wasn’t considered by any man, but he was considered by God. And God chose him. The Bible says in Acts 13:22 God even called David, “…,a man after mine own heart.” Why did God choose David? What was he looking for?
Well, David had a few characteristics that God really admires. One of these is displayed in 1 Samuel 17:37, “David said moreover, The Lord that delivered me out of the paw of the lion, and out of the paw of the bear, he will deliver me out of the hand of this Philistine. And Saul said unto David, Go, and the Lord be with thee.” See, this verse demonstrates David’s steadfast faith in God. He had seen God deliver him before and he knew God would do it again. David also respected and loved God’s law. The book of Psalms is filled with David speaking of and being thankful for God’s law, which leads into the next characteristic. David was also thankful. Psalms is also filled with David’s praise and thankfulness to God. One other things was this: David was quick to repent. Not only quick to repent but truly repentant. We know from the Bible that David had sinned. But David then confessed his sin to God and was forgiven.
So, we often, in this life are a lot like Samuel was; looking at the outward appearance to choose the next King. We, too, can be so concerned about outward appearance and miss the most important thing. Godly character. Our own.
1 Samuel 16:7: “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 seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart.”