1 Samuel 16:12 (NKJV)
\u201cSo he sent and brought him in. Now he was ruddy, with bright eyes, and good-looking. And the Lord said, \u2018Arise, anoint him; for this is the one!\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As pilgrims, we have constantly de-emphasized the importance of external appearance, and this is legitimately so. We are not of those who focus on external things, to the detriment of eternal priorities, and we need to never lose this. Eternal things should always override temporal things.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, a right understanding of how God sees us, and who we are in Christ, will definitely impact how we appear before men. If our experience with God does not reflect on how we appear, then peradventure our experience with God is faulty. Deeper spiritual interactions impact physical appearance. This is non-negotiable!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
David was a man who lived on the fields, a rugged shepherd, one who did not have time to take care of bodily looks and external features. David was a man after God\u2019s heart, living rough among his sheep, in the sun, and in the rain, fighting off wild animals and singing songs to God in the forest. David was a man dedicated to God in every way. But how is he described?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
AMPC describes him as having a, \u201chealthy reddish complexion and beautiful eyes, and was fine-looking.\u201d NLT says he was, \u201cdark and handsome, with beautiful eyes.\u201d NKJV says he was, \u201cruddy, with bright eyes and good-looking.\u201d David\u2019s internal life seems to have affected his appearance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Our walk with God should radiate on the outside. Notice that none of the descriptions about David referred to what he put on, but who he was. It wasn\u2019t about the costliness of his clothes or the fragrance of his perfume. It was about a radiance that was from his person. His spiritual depth groomed his appearance. He radiated and reflected a beauty that was from above.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Today\u2019s devotional challenge is simple. Can we be intimately connected with Jesus that we glow physically? Can our spiritual roots release a heavenly fragrance that people can actually smell? Is there a brightness in our eyes that people can see? Is our spirituality physically evident?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Pilgrims may not dress in the best external apparel or have the most expensive physical accessories, but we must reflect heaven\u2019s glory. Irrespective of our complexion at birth, we must display a heavenly glow that overrides everything else. One of the greatest evidence of spirituality is that God\u2019s glory can be physically seen on the devout.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Here\u2019s an intentional pilgrim prayer. Plead with God to display His spiritual endorsement on your life, through a physical reflection of His glory, for all to see His glory through you. Amen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
1 Samuel 16:12 (NKJV)\u201cSo he sent and brought him in. Now he was ruddy, with bright eyes, and good-looking. And the Lord said, \u2018Arise, anoint him; for this is the one!\u2019\u201d As pilgrims, we have constantly de-emphasized the importance of external appearance, and this is legitimately so. We are not of those who focus on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7372,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"off","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6807","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog","category-reflections-from-1st-samuel"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/1-Samuel-Cover.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6807","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6807"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6807\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6809,"href":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6807\/revisions\/6809"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7372"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6807"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6807"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6807"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}