Something I was reminded of was that, while we see the outside, God sees and cares about the inside.
… The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.
1 Samuel 16:7b
An example of this comes from John 4, when Jesus meets a Samaritan woman by a well:
Now he [Jesus] had to go through Samaria. So he came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about noon. When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Will you give me a drink?” (His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.)
John 4:4-8
At that time, socially and culturally, it was discouraged for men to have public conversations with women and Jews did not associate with Samaritans. But when Jesus looked at the Samaritan woman, he did not see someone that he should avoid, he saw someone who could carry the Kingdom.
Just then his disciples returned and were surprised to find him talking with a woman. But no one asked, “What do you want?” or “Why are you talking with her?”
John 4:27
This was unusual behavior for the disciples to see, but it was not unusual for Jesus. In Jesus’s ministry, He spent a lot of time with the outcast, the sick, and the marginalized; people rejected from society. But Jesus knew what He could do with what He saw on the inside.
Right after her conversation with Jesus, the Samaritan woman shared what He had told her with the people in her town and many Samaritans believed in Jesus from that encounter.
God may surprise us with the places He wants us to go, the conversations He wants us to have, and the people He wants us to reach, but we never know how much God can do with what we give Him. May we be sensitive and obedient to His direction.