God’s kind of like Blake Shelton, one of the celebrity judges from the Voice. It’s a reality show where singers try to impress a panel of judges. Except there’s a catch. When the singers first perform, the judges’ chairs are turned backward. Why? Because they don’t want the judges to be biased toward beautiful people. They want Blake and his friends to hear the voice and not just see the face.

Sounds a lot like God. The apostle Peter confessed: “God has shown me that I should not call anyone impure or unclean. . . . I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism but accepts from every nation the one who fears him and does what is right” (Acts 10:28,34,35). God doesn’t show favoritism. His favor isn’t just for people with that color skin, with that kind of hair, with those shaped eyes, or from that part of our planet. No, God accepts from every nation the one who fears him and does what is right.

That’s a good word for a world with so much racial division. What matters most to God and, hopefully, to his people is the soul and not the skin. A heart that trembles in God’s glorious presence and longs to do what is right is worth choosing, applauding, and imitating.

It’s so easy to judge a book by its cover and people by their appearance. Ask God today for the ability to hear “the voice” of someone’s soul.