From The Inside Out

From the Inside Out

The LORD doesn’t see things the way you see them. People judge by outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart. 1 Samuel 16:7

Everybody in eighth grade had a pair of Chuck Taylor basketball shoes. Everybody. They were a canvas high-top, the Converse All Star, the company’s most popular shoe. With all the shoes out there today, the popularity of a canvas high-top may be hard to imagine. But at that time, those were the shoes to have—if you were somebody. And I wanted them.

I had that opportunity when my father took me to Kmart. The Chuck Taylors were in stock, retailing for $$799. Right next to them was the Kmart version of the same shoe for $$399. My dad showed me that the shoes were made of the same material and were of the same quality, and he didn’t want to pay twice as much for the marketing hype. He told me that for playing basketball, the Kmart shoes would do just fine. I tried to explain how important it was to have the cool shoes—that my friends’ opinions mattered to me and I wanted to be part of the group. He didn’t tell me I couldn’t get the Chuck Taylors, but he did say he wasn’t going to spend the extra money for them. His job, as he saw it, was to provide what I needed. If I wanted more than that, I could pay the difference. It was quite a dilemma—my first lesson in style versus substance.

That’s a hard lesson to learn, and as we go through life, the stakes get much higher than shoes. Ironically, Converse later had the slogan, “It’s what’s inside that counts,” and they were right. Valuing style over substance can force us into a lot of unwise decisions, not only with minor purchases but also big ones, and not only with what we buy but with the goals we pursue and the people we choose to associate with. It can become a lifelong pattern that leaves us disappointed in the long run.

God chooses substance over style, and He wants us to do the same. While the world looks at the outside of people, He’s concerned with the inside: who we are becoming. He wants us to have substance ourselves, to be able to see the substance in others, and to value it above outward appearances. After all, styles change. Substance can last forever.

Uncommon Key > What’s on the inside matters more than what’s on the outside. Commit to the things that have deeper value than what the world says. Always choose substance over style.