The Heart is What Matters

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 man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart." 1 Samuel 16:7 NIV

As we as citizens of the USA narrow down the presidential candidates, we begin to hear negativity, slander, and misrepresentation of each person running in the race. We are upset when the media tries to predict who the two candidates will be for the major parties. At times mud slinging happens and friends turn their backs on each other. This is why we are warned about talking politics.

I'd like to share with you who I plan to vote for in a couple weeks, but I won't. As each election day approaches I try to educate myself on each candidate or issue that is being presented to us. I also try to figure out the character of the person running.

I want to know how does he/she act when no one except his/her family is around? Does he/she lash out at those who mean the most to him/her? Or does he/she take the time to listen to what his/her spouse or children are telling him/her?

I also want to know if he/she attends church. Does he/she take his/her spiritual life seriously? Does he/she pray? These are the things that are important to me. Maybe they aren't important to you, but for me they are. I feel that if an elected official has a close connection to God then the trials he/she will face will be made a little easier.

Funny, how the lessons I teach the children become an important message for me as well. Last week we learned again about "do unto others as you would have them do unto you", but I had to change it a little bit because for some reason each of them want the other to be mean to them. So now we are saying, "Do as Jesus would do," because he wouldn't be mean to others.

This week we've learned about producing good fruit. No one likes rotten apples or oranges. Rotten fruit is pretty nasty! Yesterday in fact, we said you can tell which kind of fruit is in a person's heart by the way he/she acts.

So as each of you prepares to head to the polls, it is my hope that you at least look at what kind of fruit your candidate is producing. If you're alright with his/her inward appearance then by all means vote for that person, but if not please chose one who produces good fruit because the heart is what matters.