Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of dead men's bones and everything unclean. On the outside you appear to people as righteous, but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness. (Matthew 23:27-28)
Like a gold ring in a pig's snout is a beautiful woman who shows no discretion. (Proverbs 11:22)
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)
So the Christian is to avoid hypocrisy and wickedness. Believers have been redeemed from these transgressions so that they might be obviously unique in the world. One way to express this uniqueness is to work to look at the heart of each person that we interact with in our daily lives. The world teaches us that the outward appearance is most important, but we are taught otherwise.
In addition, we should always be genuine in the way we represent ourselves to others. If we are following Jesus there would be no reason for being ashamed of who we really are!
