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.”

1 Samuel 16:7

Getting to know Jesus is challenging. His earthly life ended 2000 years ago and the people who knew him did not leave much for history to bring forward to us. But we can know him, and really well. Well enough that a lot of people speculate about his physical appearance as well. Christians often cite Isaiah 53:2 as a sort of basis for the speculation that Jesus was plain looking, which could be valid, but I think the passage above from Samuel speaks to the attitude we have after we meet Jesus.

It would take a special kind of self-centered to not like a grandparent, for example, because he or she was “old and ugly” and judge them on appearance alone. So it’s amazing to me that people meet Jesus, begin to form a very close Spiritual relationship with him and still try to guess what his face was like. We know him so much better than that! It could be said that it’s hard to see a person’s face once you know their heart. The most attractive facial features are spoiled by a nasty attitude and ugly words.

We have such an amazing opportunity: we can see Jesus the way the Lord sees us! Imagine if we applied that skill to all our relationships.

Ethan Kirl