January, and everyone is on a new diet! Oh, don’t worry, I am including myself in this statement. I joined Noom about 4 weeks ago and I am diligently working the program. Health is important and taking care of ourselves is our duty to God. But our society puts such an emphasis on appearance. What about God? What does he care about?

In the old testament, God sent the prophet Samuel to Bethlehem to find the next King of Israel. When Samuel saw Eliab, the son of Jesse he thought, surely this must be the Lord’s anointed.
“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’”. (Samuel 16:7) “Jesse had seven of his sons pass before Samuel, but Samuel said to him, ‘The Lord has not chosen these.’ So, he asked Jesse, ‘Are these all the sons you have?’ ‘There is still the youngest’, Jesse answered. ‘He is tending the sheep’.” (Samuel 16:10-11a)

God chose the youngest of Jesse’s sons. He did not choose the oldest, the smartest, the tallest or the strongest. He chose the one that wasn’t even worthy to stand before the prophet! He chose David. In the book of Acts, Luke writes, “After removing Saul, he made David their king. God testified concerning him: ‘I have found David son of Jesse, a man after my own heart; he will do everything I want him to do’.” (Luke 13:22)

David was a man after God’s own heart. Not because of his appearance, his physical strength, he is overwhelming intellect, but because of what was in his heart. God said that David would do what he wanted him to do. That is something to strive for! As each of us work to improve our health, lose weight, pay off debt, whatever you have made your goals for 2020, how about making your heart one with God?

Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy is a condition which the heart muscles become thick and harden. This makes it harder for the blood to leave the heart and causes the heart to work harder to pump the blood. Paul warns us in Romans 2 not to harden our hearts with stubbornness and unrepentance. David’s son Solomon tells us in Proverbs 4:23 “Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it”.

As we navigate through the twists and turns of our daily lives, keep your eyes and especially your heart focused on God. Guard your heart from evil. When you sin, and we all do, come before the Lord with repentance and let the stubbornness of our human nature fall away. Don’t put all your focus on changing your jean size or the number on the scale. Don’t judge yourself by the appearance of those around you. Make your heart a priority and seek the Lord’s face. As David wrote in Psalm 27:4, “One thing I ask from the LORD, this only do I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze on the beauty of the LORD and to seek him in his temple.”