Makeover Priorities

For the LORD does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.

1 Samuel 16:7

America has gone “makeover” crazy! You can’t watch prime-time television very long on a weeknight without seeing a commercial for a makeover show—they’re even making over houses. Whether the focus is on a person’s body or home, the idea is the same: the exterior is all-important. Tear down the old, build up the new, and life will be better.

While exterior makeovers probably bring happiness to some, success isn’t guaranteed. Studies have discovered a high degree of depression in post-makeover women because their plastic surgery didn’t bring them the happiness they thought it would.

Isn’t it great that we don’t have to have a physical makeover to be attractive to God? The prophet Samuel said that God looks on the heart above all (1 Samuel 16:7), Jesus said it’s what’s on the inside of a person that’s most important (Matthew 15:11), and Peter said wives are most attractive when they have a beautiful spirit (1 Peter 3:1–6). If you’ve been thinking about a makeover lately, start with the heart. Beauty on the interior can make us more attractive than rearranging the exterior.

A surgeon can make over the body, but only God can make over the heart.