How Do I Protect Myself?

A Question Of Power

Central casting. Whenever somebody looks like what we think that person should look like, you’ll hear someone say, “it looks like they came from central casting.” Saul, the first king of Israel, was such a person. He was tall and handsome. He was strong and a valiant warrior. On the outside, he looked the part. Israel chose him to be the king. And Saul spectacularly failed. The next time a king was anointed, God chose the youngest son of Jesse who wasn’t even called in from the field to meet with Samuel. David (with some faults and failures) succeeded as king, and his family remained on the throne eternally.

Paul warns the Corinthians not to look at the outside. Don’t think that a leader or pastor must come from central casting and look the part. Instead, we must look to the hearts of people for the attributes that God looks to. Don’t judge a book by its cover, and don’t judge a person by their appearance.