1 Samuel 16: 7

I love the way that sub-culture people dress and accessorize. I even like most “body art” (tats, piercing) stuff. I also enjoy doing some shopping at local thrift stores and rummage sales. But I never seem to be able to find the really cool t-shirts that you guys get a hold of!

I realize that the fashion is for different reasons. Some is functional, some is cultural, some is just to be different, some is for shock value. And some even has social meaning.

Amazingly, for as long as people have chosen to appear this way and how much more common it is, sub-culture fashion still turns people’s heads. This is not always good. You know better than I, that people will think less of you when you dress that way, and even judge you as being some rotten, disrespectful punk kid, and you possibly even end up discriminated against.

‘Tis true, you shouldn’t expect to get hired as a waitress sportin’ a tri-hawk. Or as a sales rep with a tattoo on your forehead. Or interviewing for just about any job while wearing a butt-flap! But you shouldn’t be thought of
as weird, or be the subject of undue criticism because of your appearance.

Unfortunately, this is how people judge people. How different than how God does. That one verse that we read today is short, but very powerful in telling us that God is so much more interested in our hearts, than in our appearance. God does not look at the outside, but on the inside.

Like God, we shouldn’t put much stock in appearance. As you don’t like to be judged in such a way, you must be careful not to do the same to others that appear different than you. How do we treat the preps and jocks in their A&F and Old Navy? And what about urban folk stylin’ in their FuBu and bringin’ the bling-bling? Hey, what about someone who has the greatest sleeve of tats, but is a jerk? Judge the heart….

With God, “clothes do not make the man”, as the old saying goes. Strive to look at people like He does. Pray for the ability to do so. And pray for your own fashion choices, that they do not rule your heart, or become more important than your inner values.
- Richard Mittwede