“But the Lord said to Samuel, ‘Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for the Lord does not see as mortals see; they look on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.’ “
I suppose it is part of our humanity that sometimes what we see with our eyes will influence how we interact with others. Yet, if we truly believe that we are all created in the image and likeness of God, what we perceive with our senses should have no bearing on how we live our lives and treat one another.
The good news is that God’s steadfast love for us, as beings created in God’s own image and likeness, is unwavering regardless of how we outwardly appear. And if God sees into our heart, the Psalmist got it right in Psalm 51 praying to God to “create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me”.