NOVEMBER 26, 1 Samuel 16:7b 

Phil and his friends were stunned. One of their classmates had been killed in a car accident. “We feel sad this morning,” said Miss Tan, their teacher. “Sometimes it makes us feel better to remember good and happy things about a person who has died. Would anyone like to share something special about Jonathan?” Several students mentioned things they liked about their friend.

Amelia spoke first. “Jon played his horn really good,” she said. “He was smart,” offered Jason. “He could figure things out real quick.” “He was always nice to other kids,” said Kai. “Jon was a good person,” said Dylan. “He went to church every week.” Phil fidgeted in his seat. “The things the kids said were true, but nobody had mentioned the most important thing of all. Jon and I talked about it just last week. Do I dare tell them?” he wondered. Phil hesitated a few minutes longer, then slowly raised his hand. “Yes, Phil?” His teacher said and smiled at him.

“Well, my dad always says people are like cars,” began Phil nervously, “but Jon wasn’t at all like my uncle Robert’s car.” Phil noticed some of the kids frowning at him and realized how odd that sounded. He hurried to explain. “See... when uncle Robert wanted to buy a car, he brought it home to show Dad. It looked really nice and uncle Robert liked the CD player and stuff. But Dad kept saying, “What about the engine? It’s what’s under the hood that really counts.” But uncle Robert didn’t listen, and now his car won’t run half the time.” Phil paused, surprised at the long speech he was making. He noticed kids were still frowning.

“That’s interesting,” said Miss Tan, “but would you like to say something more about Jon, too?” “What I wanted to say was – we’ve heard a lot of good things about Jon, but like I said, I’m glad I can tell you he’s not like uncle Robert’s car,” said Phil. “He didn’t just look good. A couple of months ago, Jonathan told me he trusted Jesus as his Savior. That made him good in God’s sight, and that’s what really counts.”

Phil saw that a few kids looked puzzled, but some were smiling now. And he felt like, up in heaven, Jon was smiling, too.

Thought: Does your life just look good to man, or does it look good to God?

Prayer: Heavenly Father, I confess that often, I want people to see the outside of me. I pray that I would be more concerned about the inside of me – that I am really saved and have committed my life to Jesus, that He’d be my Lord and Saviour. In His precious name I ask, Amen.