Nougat 14

When last have you felt that you didn’t match up to others – whether physically, mentally/emotionally, professionally, socially, or even spiritually? How did it affect your self esteem? One of our most well known Bible figures must have faced that regularly, since he was often forgotten by his father at family functions. Today’s Holy Nougat reminds us just Where our focus ought to lay.

“But the Lord said to Samuel, Don’t judge by his appearance or height, for I have rejected him. 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 ‭NLT‬‬ (emphasis mine)

Matters of our hearts

In many schools comparisons are presented as normal. We learn about comparing as part of our language and grammar lessons. Remember? As good as gold, as fit as a fiddle, as easy as ABC, etc. Then there was the reasoning and mental ability version: A is to B as 1 is to 2, or Right is to Left as Up is to _ (and we had to fill in the blanks).

And don’t forget Positive, Comparative, Superlative! Some were taught in rhymes

Good, better, best

Never let it rest

Until our good is better

And our better, best!

We have all lived through one comparison or another. Whether at home, school, work, church/temple, on the playground, out with friends, at an interview, or other settings, there have been moments when we were assessed us in relation to some other person. It doesn’t matter if we know the outcome or not, sometimes we fared positively, other times – well, not as much.

So perhaps we don’t consciously think about the comparisons and the impact on our lives. Aside from creating competitive attitudes, comparisons sometimes results in us being super achievers in particular fields (even too much so at times), moved us to be coaches (we seek to share our expertise), or we may develop complexes as we assume that we are forever the greatest, or we can never be great.

Comparisons, and even competition, have their place. They do help to shape our lives, and discover different things about our gifts and abilities. In a world of vastly varied ways of doing and being, it is easy (too easy) to feel overwhelmed by the different comparisons and lose our sense of worth.

It may be that we are always considered first and we become arrogant about it all. So much so that others either keep hovering in the hopes of accessing our ‘star quality’, or they avoid us because of our egos.

Guard our hearts!

We might choose to avoid the limelight and hide our gifts and skills. That’s equally dangerous because we operate at less than our best. God desires so much more and always wants us to live fulfilled lives.

Others of us have not yet discovered our niche and we may be the ‘groupies’ who hover around the star, neglecting to maximize our own potential because we are living in the shadows of others. Or, we become resentful and bitter towards successful people, again being a deterrent to our progress. Not healthy or helpful. In some instances, we divorce ourselves from the world, nursing our wounds in destructive ways.

Guard our hearts!

We are reminded, cautioned, encouraged that God’s standards don’t rely on other people’s opinion. Samuel the prophet knew he had found Israel’s next king in Jesse’s handsome firstborn. He was muscular, older and seemed to be a better choice than King Saul – to Samuel at least. At that point, anyone may have seemed better.

But God didn’t want ‘anybody’.

God didn’t desire ’better than’;

God sought the ‘best’!

For God, best is from the Heart: Trainable, Hungry, Reliant, Obedient, and Worshipful.

Will we THROW our hearts to God?

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May all we seek be found in Christ