Read 1 Samuel 16:7.

"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."

In this verse, Samuel was choosing the next king.

God could have told Him anything about choosing the next king-He could have just told him who the next king was supposed to be.
Instead, He tells Samuel to not look at appearance or height, because that's not what He looks at.

He looks at the heart.

This verse says that people look at the outward appearance.
So, when we put all of this effort and time and thought into our outward appearance, it's obviously for people.

I mean, you already knew that, right?

It's not like you thought that one day you were going to walk outside and bump into Jesus and say, "Oh, look how nice I look for you today!"
Like I said, there's nothing wrong with wanting to look nice.
When it starts to become a problem is when you focus so much on your outer appearance that you forget to focus on your heart.
It's no good to put all of your time and energy into making sure you look good on the outside if you're not going to have any time or energy left to make sure you look goodon the inside.

Get out two coffee cups.

I need a volunteer to come up here.

Okay, so I thought we'd share a cup of coffee together. Sound good?

Now, I only have two cups here.
Since you're my guest, I'll let you pick first.
Hold up the coffee cup that's dirty on the outside first, and then the coffee cup that’s clean on the outside.

Which one would you want to drink out of?

If the student chooses the clean coffee cup, show them the inside. Have them pass it around to the rest of the group.
Isn't that gross?
What if you came over to my house and we sat down for dinner, and I served you a drink in that cup?

It would be disgusting, right? Why, though?
I worked hard to clean the outside of it, since I knew you were coming over. The table looks nice.
Everything looks great from the outside-does it really matter what the inside looks like? Of course, it does!
You would never drink out of that nasty cup! But that's how we act in our lives, isn't it?

Read Matthew 23:25-26.

"Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean."

The Pharisees were people who prided themselves on being very religious and "godly “in front of other people.

They publicly paraded around following all of the Biblical rules.
They made sure everyone around them knew that they were doing what was right, and they were very quick to condemn others who weren't doing what was right.

These people were all about appearance. But Jesus is quick to call them out here.
He says that even though the outside is clean and looks right, the inside is filthy and full of greed and selfishness.

Ouch. That's tough to hear, isn't it?

Mostly because we're very guilty of acting like that sometimes. We look the part, dress the part, and act the part.
We go to church, we raise our hands during worship, and we don't take part in things at school or with friends that we know are wrong.

Hey, we'll even be quick to tell everyone that they're wrong for doing those things. But all of that means nothing if our heart isn't right.
Jesus doesn't care how you look to other people; He cares about how you look to Him.

And in order to look good to Him, we're going to have to make sure our hearts are inherited place.

So how do we do that? We act like Jesus.
Do you think it's possible to try your best to be like Jesus and to still have a heart that's in the wrong place?

I really don't think so.

So, if you want to work on your heart, here's a great place to start: look at the heart of Jesus.

Jesus loved others.

He loved others so much so that He was willing to come to a world filled with sin and die for us, so that we could spend forever with Him.

If that's not love, then love doesn't exist.

All throughout Jesus' life, we can see how much He loved others.

He spent so much time not only telling others about God and His great love, but showing them as well.

If you want your heart to be like the heart of Jesus, you have to love others. And guess what...it takes hard work to love others.

Sure, we don't usually talk about loving others as something that takes a lot of effort. But if we're honest, we know that it does.
Loving others means putting them above yourself.

It means taking the time to taIk to them, pray for them, and show them love, even when you're busy.

It means making sure the things you say and do are said and done in love. It takes a lot of work.
Jesus knew the Word of God and lived according to it. His entire time on earth, Jesus lived out the Bible.
When you look at the heart of Jesus, you see the Word of God. He followed it, quoted it, told other people about it.
It was obviously very important to Him. It should be just as important to you.
You should take the time to read the Bible, to learn the Bible, to pray about what the Bible says and what God is trying to say to you through His Word.

You cannot have a heart like Jesus without knowing what His heart was like-so read about it!

Jesus served others.

Jesus didn't have to serve anyone-He was the Son of God. But all through His life, we see Jesus serving others.
Even when He was tired, He would take the time to help others. On the last night before He was captured to be crucified, He got on His knees and washed His disciples' feet, showing them how important it was to be a servant.

Jesus had a servant's heart.

He wanted people to accept Him, but He did not parade around acting as if He were more important than everyone else.

Instead, He got on their level and served them, showing such a clear picture of how much God loved them.

Serving others is never going to be an easy choice, but it is the right choice.

Do you think that it was easy for Jesus to wash His disciples' feet when He knew whatwas about to happen to Him?

I don't think so.

But He still did it, because that was His heart.

If you want to reflect the heart of Jesus, you're going to have to have a servant's heart.
Above all, Jesus cared about God's will.
Jesus was all God, but He was also human.

The night before He was captured, He knew what was going to happen.
He knew how terrible it was going to be, and He asked God, if it was at all possible, tostop what was about to happen.

But then Hle said, “Not my will, but Yours be done."
Even in the face of great horror and pain, Jesus was more concerned with the will of God than anything else.
There are going to be times in your life where you think that you know best.

There are going to be times where nothing seems like it could be better than the plan that you have for your life.
And even in those times, you need to mimic Jesus and say, "Not my will, but Yours be done."

You cannot have a heart like Jesus without following God's will.

You cannot follow God's will if you're too busy thinking about how your plan is better than His.

It takes a lot of trust, but you have to care about God's will more than you care about your own.

So, no, having a heart like Jesus is not easy. It's going to take some work.
Having a good outward appearance takes work, right? Of course, it does.

It's time to start working as hard on the inside as you work on the outside.