Blog 321 – 06.21.2016

There is a line in Scripture that says God does not look on outward appearances but on the heart. We on the other hand are obsessed with illusions and outward appearances. We set so much store in outward physical beauty and ignore the glory of the spirit within. We tend to worship the outwardly beautiful while shunning the seeming physically plain and unlovely.

I read some years ago that the Presidential Election in this country has mostly been a beauty contest. Did you know that up until George W. Bush won the presidency in 2000 that the taller candidate always won. It is difficult for me to believe height is the best and most important quality in a President anymore that a shapely body and pretty face is in a mate but guys seem to always put that first. Women sadly are not much smarter picking a mate. Tall, dark, and handsome does not guarantee kind, compassionate, loving, responsible or intelligent.

The world defines beauty as on the outside but inner beauty not only outshines physical beauty but out lasts it as well. I read many of the sad appeals for attention on Social Media. One of the saddest I read just a few days ago: “Do you ever feel invisible?” I remember twenty five years ago or so when I was a much younger man talking with the executive secretary of the CEO (Chief Executive Officer – probably everybody knows that acronym but in case even one does not I spell it out). Anyway she was a very pretty woman in her fifties and she said it had be only a few years that men had stopped looking at her and that made her feel unattractive and invisible.

Jesus did not have to be God’s only begotten son to be remarkable. He did not have to die on a cross and rise from the grave to prove his inestimable worth. He sought out the marginalized, the unlovely, the rejected, those thought to be invisible to prove to them and us beyond a shadow of a doubt that they were not and neither are we. The wonderful childhood story of the Velveteen Rabbit teaches that love makes you real. It truly does and none is more real than One who truly loves. As he did even from the cross as he took time to tell the thief beside him, “Today you will be with me in paradise.” He even to prayed for forgiveness for those who were torturing him to death: “Father forgive them for they don’t know what they are doing.”

You don’t have to be a Christian to admit that Jesus was somebody that saw beyond appearances. Would we all could open that third eye some believe we have and see clearly that everything and everybody is beautiful in their own way – sing it Ray Stevens.

Your friend and fellow traveler,
David White