DON'T LIKE YOUR LOOKS?

Do you like your looks?  I don't like mine.
And I would bet you don't like your looks
either, unless you are an ego maniac.

Years ago I read how even most actors are
not satisfied with the way they look.  They
would change some little thing or other.
And after all these years I have found
nothing to make me think differently.

It seems to be a problem to all human

beings.  Consider the these statistics.

In the year 2016 world wide there was

61.5  billion U.S. dollars spent on

color cosmetics.   You know, paint,
putty, wood filler or what ever it is
that women use trying to look like
something different.

And we fellows did not do much better.

We spent 48.5 billon dollars on men's
grooming products trying to look better. 

But I noticed something IMPORTANT.

When God came down as a man - Jesus

Christ - so he could die in our place if

we will accept it.  You would think He

would come as the most outstanding person

of all time.  But He did not.  Notice the 

thing of the appearance of Jesus Christ 

in the prophecy given about Him.

"For before him he grew up like a young plant,
like a root out of dry ground.  He was not well-
formed or especially handsome; we saw him,
but his appearance did not attract us.
People despised and avoided him, a man of pains,
well acquainted with illness.  Like someone from
whom people turn their faces, he was despised;
we did not value him."

(Isaiah 53:2,3 CJB)

Did you catch that?
The very one who created the Universe and
gives life to you, when he came to be one of
us, He came as the plainest of the plane people.

Don't you think that we put way to much
emphasis on our outward appearance?

"God sees not as man sees,
for man looks at the outward appearance,
but the LORD looks at the heart."
(1 Samuel 16:7 NASB) 

JUST SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT

Jesus said;

"Beware of the scribes who like to walk around

in long robes, and like respectful greetings in

the market places, and the chief seats in the

synagogues and places of honor at banquets,

who devour widows' houses, and for appearance's

sake offer long prayers; these will receive great

condemnation."

(Mark 12:38-40 NASB)

"Clothes make the man"

Photo courtesy of:www.bigfoto.com

Back possibly in the 1990's my wife and I were camping

in one of the local State Parks.  It just happened that was 

the week end of a large Mountain Bike Festival.  There 

were Mountain Bikes all over the place, you know, 

swarms of them.

It was almost unbelievable what those kids can do on 

their Mountain Bikes.  They would hop them from rock

to rock.  Jump over logs and maybe even climb trees with

them.  O.K.  Scratch the tree climbing.

I think it was at an intermediate event that I saw a man who

I would guess was a young family man.  Probably with out 

kids yet to be able to spend the money he did on his bike and

outfit.  As I remember he had a very expensive bike.  And all

of his clothes and gear looked to me like professional attire.

So, I was watching to see this star ride.

Lol.  Lol. Lol.

The clothes just had not finished making the man yet.

He did about the worst of all of them.

I admit.  This is not quite what I want to talk about.

This is "Gunner" on one of my motorcycles in the

church parking lot.  But that is really all I need for 

a picture and it helps you know we are shifting gears.

I live about twelve to fifteen miles from the city that now

has the fourth largest motorcycle festival in the United States.

The attendees are measured in the hundreds of thousands.

Now you are getting closer to my kind of thing.  I have been

riding motorcycles on and off for years.

So for the first three or four years of this festival I was right

down there to see what was going on.  Now I'm not too 

bright.  So it took me a while to figure it out.  This thing is

nothing more than a huge costume party.  Most of these guys

are not "bikers" or even "motorcyclist".  They are nothing more

than party animals.  They are the kind that spend more time 

washing and polishing their motorcycle than riding it.  It is only

a trophy to them that they haul in on a trailer to the party.

They keep nice new motorcycle costumes on the shelf to wear

to the party.  Then go to the party and drink lots of beer while 

throwing around even more B.S.

The clothes just do not turn them into a real "biker".

It is easy to stand here and point my finger.  But when I start

trying to be honest before God, am I any different.  Am I only

trying to look or act respectable or like a Christian. 

How do I stand before God.

"But the Lord said to Samuel,

'Do not look at his appearance or at

his physical stature, because I have

refused him.  For the Lord does not 

see as man sees; for man looks at 

the outward appearance, but the 

Lord looks at the heart.'"

(1 Samuel 16:7 NKJV)