Beyond Appearances

The Holy Spirit gets a vote.

The Bible teaches that if any man, woman, or child believes that God raised Jesus from the dead after Jesus died for our sins, then we are saved into the family of God as new creations that God now calls forgiven, redeemed, holy, righteous, justified, and so forth.

And then every man, woman, and child is confronted with the realized or unrealized daily choice: be conformed to this world or be transformed from this world.

However, this daily choice tends to get conflated every 4 years for the adult man, woman, and child. It was a personal struggle of mine. I grew up a stranger to a well known and often quoted speech given by Dr. Martin Luther King. As I got older, I would hear so many people, church folk and regular folk, point to that speech as the goal for a civilized and harmonious society. Honestly, it felt like pandering to a particular societal group with attempts to regulate behavior. Wow, how the tables have turned.

King's focus on character has highly impacted me even today. Why? Character matters to God because it reveals the true condition of our hearts. In Scripture, God consistently looks beyond outward appearances and focuses on our inner lives, desiring that our actions align with His values of love, justice, and mercy. Our actions align with His values; not a party's values.

Jesus taught that “out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks” (Matthew 12:34), showing that our words and actions naturally flow from our character. For believers today, developing godly character is essential as it pertains to man in the household and the man in the pulpit. Our desire seems to want to honor God because it allows us to live authentically, drawing others to the Christ through integrity and compassion. Believers today have found several sources from which we cultivate character–no longer just grounded in faith by the word of God, because we think we've found better ways to become better equipped to impact a world.

Dr. King's powerful vision—"to be judged not by the color of their skin but by the content of their character"—speaks deeply to the Christian heart, calling us to see people as God sees them. His vision resonates with Jesus’ teachings on character and the heart, which He emphasized as the true measure of a person. Like his father, Jesus spoke of the importance of inner transformation over outward appearances, declaring that "the good person out of the good treasure of the heart produces good" (Luke 6:45) and urging us to focus on what lies within. That daily choice I referenced seems to disappear every 4 years.

In a world quick to judge based on external factors, King’s words and Jesus’ teachings remind us to value character above all else, seeking to reflect God’s love and justice by cultivating the integrity, compassion, and humility that reveal our true selves. Character never makes a party's platform, but we see it in debates and in political commercials. We even see it in political tweets on X. Believers today continue to demonstrate the world's actions based on external factors. I'd even go so far as to say the color of one's skin along with the gender of the person are what's being judged nowadays.

Jesus has been telling his followers to be different ever since his first speech in the synagogue in Luke 4 or his first speech on a plain in Matthew 5-7.

I'm concerned by the things I'm hearing and seeing from believers today. I'm concerned by the things I'm hearing those who don't believe rightly point out the inconsistencies from believers today. I'm concerned that character has been vilified if not set aside. I'm concerned that the hashtag movements have turned believers into sulking children shouting 'this isn't fair' when their idols or buddies are being called out. I'm concerned that the 66 books of the Word are being minimized into single issues. I'm concerned that believers are far less affected by their lack of obeying Jesus' command to make disciples in comparison to making partisan disciples of their kids and friends.

The opportunity for believers today to represent our Lord and Savior is still before us. It's an everyday choice, and not a conscience decision every 4 years.