The hidden quality

I have not met this particular friend for quite some time. One day he rang me up and asked me out for lunch. Since our office were only a few blocks away, I volunteered to fetch him at his office. I have never been to his office so I thought this would be a good opportunity to visit his office. As I was driving to his office, I was imagining his office to be reflecting the corporate images for he is a successful entrepreneur. I was expecting to see a nicely decorated lounge, with security guards and receptionits welcoming me. But when I arrived at his office, I was surprised with what I saw. There were no security guards and receptionist. The scene of his office did not reflect the success of his career.

Many times in life we were deceived by what we saw. We see something beautiful but inside is ugliness. We see something bad but inside is full of kindness. In Genesis, Lot and his family was deceived by the look of Sodom and Gomora. They saw Sodom and Gomora as a beautiful place to reside. They did not see the evils inside Sodom and Gomora.

When God sent Samuel to Jesse's house, he thought the oldest son of Jesse was the one chosen by God because of his physical appearance. But God told him not to look for the outer form for God sees the heart. We tend to believe in our first impression of people. When we saw people with smiles in their faces, we thought straight away that they are friendly. But we never know if that smiles are fake until we get to know them.

And how many time we try to appear joyful but inside we are full of sorrow? Or we try to be friendly but we are full of hatred?

Let us pray not to be deceived by the outer form of things but to be able to see the heart....