Good Monday morning! In the world we know that what we see isn't always what we get, or even necessarily the truth. There is software to make the model's photo look better; software to search the web and clean up your image; software to run the hardware, and even software to create a virtual world that is so much more fun than the real one. Why bother living this real life when there is a world more to your liking on your computer? Most of us have no trouble separating the two, but there are some folks who cannot live in the real world anymore. We may blame the personal computer and the Internet, but this began back in the days of television, or even radio, or maybe traveling shows, or... Actually there is a story that our first president, mindful of history, made sure to have his teeth in when his portrait was painted. Going back further, we might find that the wealthier and more powerful a person was, the less likely their portrait painted a true picture of the person. I suspect that we could take this all the way back to the time Adam and Eve took their first steps out of the Garden of Eden and found that the new world now stained by their sin and God's curse had begun to sprout ugliness.
Having known only the beauty and gentleness of the Garden, Adam probably found the first sticker not long after his first trip into the field to plant his crops. Knowing what we do of stickers and sand-burrs out here, Adam probably found it with a sensitive part of his feet or hands first. Later, Adam would discover that one sticker in your clothing multiplies if left alone too long. It may have been Eve who first discovered her reflection in a pool and noticed the first imperfection in her face. Perhaps it was only the welt from the first mosquito bite, but suddenly the one created from Adam by God noticed a bit of ugliness in her image. Since misery loves to unload on an unsuspecting partner, that first conversation after Adam came in limping from his work in the field probably had a lot of moaning and complaining involved on both sides of the table.
Ever since the expulsion from Eden, we have the ability to see every imperfection and have worked on ways to cover or eliminate them. You can bet that personal hygiene products and makeup and such were not invented by someone who thought men and women were perfect just the way they came naturally. The first high definition television and movie images probably sent a whole generation of actors running back to their trailers for more makeup. However, I don't see a lot of verses in the Bible where God speaks to our appearance. Jesus called the religious leaders 'whitewashed sepulchers' (whew, try to spell that one on a Monday morning!), beautiful on the outside but full of corruption on the inside. Our culture trains us to worry about our appearance; Jesus speaks throughout the Bible of what is really important. We think we see every imperfection, but we also have an ability to miss the important ones.
Praise God for sending us a Counselor! As fallen as we are, we would probably spend too much time working to improve the external if left to produce sanctification on our own. In fact, as we grow closer to Jesus, it becomes obvious to even the slow ones like me that our sanctification program is best managed by God.
Walk with our Lord Jesus today!
Bucky
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