PROUD AS A PEACOCK!

Peacock by Ricardo Frantz on Unsplash.

There aren’t many things that are more beautiful than the colorful feathers of a male peacock!  Their tail feathers can be up to five feet in length and expand like a fan. (see photo above).  But these feathers and their beauty come with a price.  They are heavy.  Yes, he can fly, but not very well and certainly not very far. 

It is a warning to all of us!  Does your beauty or outward appearance limit your ability to fly?  Are you strutting around ‘proud as a peacock’?  I’ve always wondered why someone would be conceited, have an overly high opinion of themselves or show excessive self-esteem because of their outward appearance (as if they created themselves!!!)  If you really want to fly and go far in this world, listen to the biblical definition of true beauty.  ‘Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as elaborate hairstyles and the wearing of gold jewelry or fine clothes (or too many feathers).  Rather, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight.’ 1 Peter 3:3-4.                                     

In fact, God doesn’t pay a whole lot of attention to outward appearances.  Outward appearances are by definition, superficial.  Moral and spiritual considerations are far more important to God.  With God, it’s all about the heart.

The Lord sent Samuel to find the new king of Israel among the sons of Jesse.  Samuel immediately decided that Eliab, one of Jesse’s sons who apparently was tall and handsome must be the one that God would choose.  ‘But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for the Lord sees not as man sees, man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.” 
1 Samuel 16:7.  

Samuel looked at all seven of Jesse’s older sons.  The Lord rejected them all.  He asked if Jesse had any other sons.  Jesse said he had one other son, David, his youngest, out tending sheep.  It was this son that God chose to be King of Israel.   God was looking at his heart.  In fact, David became known as a man after God’s own heart!!!

And this is why the heart and not outward appearances are so important!  Because, as the scripture says, ‘A good man out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil man out of his evil treasure (stored in his heart) produces evil; for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.’ Luke 6:45. 

Who you really are is a matter of the heart.  Everything we do flows from our hearts!  That is why the scripture admonishes us to, ‘Keep your heart with all vigilance; for from it flow the springs of life.’  Proverbs 4:23.

Springs of life!  True and abundant life.  You will fly far and wide in this world if you concentrate on that heart of yours and not only on your outward appearance.

CHOOSE TO FLY!