Monday, August 28, 2006

Homeliness



I was thinking tonight about myself, and my life up until now. I have always considered myself, in the flesh, to be a homely and unattractively plain fellow. No need to try and flatter or tell me otherwise(I'm not fishing for compliments), I know that we all see ourselves differently, and people see us differently than we see ourselves. But still there are a lot of us that lower our worth because of our minds image. And many of us that lower others worth, thanks to the gift of sight we tend to misuse. God gave us a worth! How much are we worth? We are worth the blood of Christ Jesus His son... a treasure beyond our thoughts and understanding. So we must not let ourselves be deceived and we must quit deceiving others with our sneers and judging looks and comments.

But now I'll come to my point: As I was feeling a little blue and upset that I couldn't woo whoever I wished or make a crowd swoon by my smile (yeah... I'm ashamed to say I was in one of those silly fleshy moods, in which I'm thinking about me and not Christ) Then a joy occurred to me...I am, if only in my minds eye, more like Jesus if I am unbecomingly average. For that is what God did...He didn't just make Himself of no reputation, but He also made Himself to be no handsome and dashing jewish model nor a rugged, burly muscleman. His picture was definitely not in the fashion magazines of the time.
"He grew up before Him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground. He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to Him, nothing in His appearance that we should desire Him. He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces He was despised, and we esteemed him not."" Just as many were astonished at you, My people, So His appearance was marred more than any man and His form more than the sons of men. (Excerpts from Isaiah)"

My point is this, that we are blessed to be in His likeness and if we find ourselves "homely" so what! For we are made in a likeness to how He made Himself on this earth. An honor nothing else in all of creation can bear. He is now all beauty and has been glorified! And soon we will be blessed to be more like Him because we will see Him as He is!

"How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know Him. Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when He appears, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. Everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.1 John 3:1-3"

So truly, we are blessed because He loves us, and the sooner we can forget about ourselves the better.

Why am I so selfish? Why do I turn from looking at Jesus and look back at myself? Why do I sometimes forget truth and so judge myself and others? Lord Jesus, help me to keep my eyes on You and You alone!

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Amen!

It's so true... I've felt this way, too. This usually happens when my focus shifts away from God, and I begin to let the messages from media and other sources to fill my head and thoughts instead of God's word. Thanks for reminding us to go back to Christ and scripture when we feel that something is out of balance! Have a great week, John! Lena (and Brent)

I think you should do a weekly devotional, John! God has given you great insight into his Word!

Anonymous said...

You should start a club or something for all of your homely homies!

Anonymous said...

You assume I haven't already!

shinbone #4 said...

yay!! Someone sticking up for us "middle of the road-ers"!! I think when you look at stories of Saul, or David, or Joseph, or Abraham, or Isaac. - All very handsome and rugged men according to the bible. My assumption has always been. That God made them that way so that they would more easily be followed by others. With Jesus there was no need. His inner perfection is what made Him beautiful. I dunno if that's accurate, but I've kinda thought that since I was a teenager - yes Joy I know.. millenia ago!

Anonymous said...

Well said John... A new light on a old topic for me.

TheDrake

Anonymous said...

Happy Birthday JohnMark!

TheDrake

Anonymous said...

Thanks Drake!

shinbone #4 said...

so ummmmm... new blog??
I know you got one brewing!