Mother’s Day
THE MOST BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE IN THE WORLD
Recently,
People Magazine came out with
it’s annual list of 50 Most Beautiful
People. What is wrong? I didn’t see any
of your names on the list. Laura Bush made
it as did Julia Roberts.
Faith Hill was one of the fifty as
was Kobe Bryant – the professional
basketball player. Interestingly enough,
each of the people were also rich and
famous.
What
do you think of such lists?
Who
do you think should have made the list
that didn’t?
Do
you really care?
Well
today, I want to talk about our physical
appearance. While this is not an issue
that I cover very often, I do feel that it
deserves some mention this morning. The People
Magazine article, as well as the
world’s fascination with the pretty
people makes it seem that if one isn’t
especially beautiful or handsome, it is
almost as if that individual is
handicapped or diminished in some way. Not
only is such a view wrong, it is also
unscriptural as well as dangerous.
Dr.
Tim LaHaye, a noted Christian
author/counselor, has observed,
"Every depressed person I have ever
counseled has had a problem with
self-acceptance."
Did you catch the emphasis on the
word “every?”
Along
similar lines, Dr. James Dobson, has
noted: "In a questionnaire to young
Christian mothers, their most common
source of depression was clearly 'low
self-esteem'. If I could write a
prescription for the women of the world,
it would provide each of them with a
healthy dose of self-esteem and personal
worth.
I have no doubt that this is their
greatest need."
Do
you realize that a survey taken a while back noted that 95% of all high school students,
and 100% of all movie stars, would change
something about their physical being if
only they could.
And then, according to the book, Inside
America by pollster Louis Harris, 99%
of the American women and 94% of the
American men would change something about
their looks if possible.
Ann
Landers lists problems with one's physical
appearance: weight; birthmarks; baldness;
height; etc., as being one of the ten most
common problems people write to her about.
Do
you relate?
Is there something you don't like about
yourself; something you'd change if only
you could? Maybe your nose, ears, or
double chin? Now, turn and look at your
neighbor; is there something about him or
her that you would…?
Just kidding.
now, just to be honest, BEING
HANDSOME OR BEAUTIFUL IS, generally
speaking, not ALL THAT IT IS CRACKED UP TO
BE.
The
Bible, for instance, rarely deals with a
person’s physical beauty or lack of the
same. We know that Sarah,
the wife of Abraham, was beautiful. The
same could be said of Rebekah,
Isaac’s wife, and Rachel,
Jacob’s wife. Other beautiful ladies of
Scripture include Abigail and Bathsheba,
both wives of David, and Esther
the Queen. This short list of six
women covers the ladies that the Bible
specifically describes as being beautiful.
When Jesus was here
on earth, He never distinguished himself
as a man of extraordinary physical
attractiveness. In fact, Isaiah 53:2
states: “He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to Him, nothing in His
appearance that we should desire Him.”
We
have no way of knowing whether Abraham
was handsome or not, fat or skinny, tall
or short. His physical characteristics
meant absolutely nothing in the passage of
time. You see, God did not call Abraham to
be Mr. Universe. He wanted him to father a
nation, to prove faithful, to be obedient.
To God, those factors proved much more
important than the amount of hair on his
head, or the number of guys he could whip
arm wrestling. He was God's man -- that
was all that really mattered!
The
Apostle
Paul was probably a short man and
more than likely suffered from very poor
eyesight. He had a prison record that was
quite long and may have suffered from
bouts of sickness.
Oh,
I must mention David.
Scripture records that he was
“ruddy, with a fine appearance and
handsome features” (1 Samuel 16:12).
But, outside of his obvious way with the
ladies, David’s handsome features did
very little for the brother.
·
He still had marital problems.
·
He still had rebellious children.
·
He still had to deal with tragedy and death in his home.
·
He still had problems walking with the Lord at times.
·
He still committed some terrible sins.
If
you think that all of your problems would
be over if only you were one of the 50
beautiful people in People Magazine,
look at David and think again! His being
handsome didn’t seem to help him all
that much.
I
noted in one of my Wednesday night Bible
studies that Willis J. Abbot’s book, Notable Women in History, contains short biographies of 73 women of
whom 29 were considered beautiful. Of
these 29, 18 met violent deaths. Surveys
have noted that beautiful women have more
personal problems and consider themselves
less happy than do their plainer sisters.
Someone
else has observed that the more beautiful
a woman is, the less likely she is to
enjoy long-lasting, deep, relationships.
Sad
to say, none of this matters thou. Girls
go for beauty regardless.
You see, right from the start the
young ladies are taught by their mothers
that being pretty is more important than
being smart. The reason for this is, they
are told, men can see better than they can
think!
Next, please notice, BEING
SOMETHING LESS THAN A PERFECT 10 NEED NOT
HINDER YOU IN LIFE
Someone took the time to analyze the faces of the 90 famous people who
were included in the book, The
Faces of Greatness.
According to the study:
·
70
of the men who posed for the photographer
were physically unattractive;
·
35
had obvious moles, cysts, and warts;
·
13
had noticeable freckles or liver spots;
·
20
had problems with acne or other pimples;
and
·
2
had highly visible scars.
These blemishes did not deter them though. These people were some
of history’s greats!
·
Picasso,
the renowned painter;
·
Thornton
Wilder, the great playwright;
·
Richard
Rogers, the composer of South Pacific and
other musicals;
·
Christian
Dior, the honored designer
All had imperfections that were obvious to the world. What might have
embarrassed lesser men just added
character to these fellows.
Look with me for a
moment at the difficulties some the other
greats have had to face:
·
Sir Walter Scott
limped through life on club feet.
·
Napoleon was an
epileptic.
·
John Milton, who
wrote Paradise
Lost, was blind, as was Fanny
Crosby the great hymn writer, as
well as Stevie
Wonder the pop singer.
·
Beethoven
was deaf.
·
The
teachers of Thomas
A. Edison said he was too stupid to
learn.
·
F. W. Woolworth built
a great chain of department stores.
Nevertheless, when he was 21 years old, he
was not permitted to wait on the customers
in the store where he worked at the time.
His employers said he did not have sense
enough to meet the public.
·
Chang
and Eng were Siamese twins joined at the
chest for life. Nonetheless, they married
sisters and fathered 22 children between
them.
·
Louisa May Alcott,
who wrote Little
Women, a book that has been read by
millions, was told by an editor that she
had no writing ability and advised her to
stick to her sewing.
·
When
Walt
Disney submitted his first drawings
for publication, the editor told him he
had no talent.
I
have written for publication numerous
times. For inspiration sake, I carry this
article (show article) in my billfold. It
is from the June 8, 1998 issue of Time
magazine. The piece is entitled “A River
of Chicken Soup.” It is about the
chicken soup series of books. How many of
you have a copy of a chicken soup book, or
have at least read a portion of one of the
books? Over 30 million copies of the books
have been sold worldwide. The interesting
thing about all of this is, as the article
here points out, “One major publisher
after another turned the two authors down
cold, and after the 33rd rejection, their
agent quit.” Nonetheless, they pressed
on with a firm belief in their product and
the rest, as they say, is publishing
history.
Many
people today tend to say, “Others could
overcome their obstacles, but my case is
different.” The only difference is that
some people fight to overcome their
obstacles, while others sit back and let
their obstacles overcome them.
One
of the qualities people admire in former
First Lady Barbara Bush is her acceptance
of herself. Comparing herself to her
predecessor, Mrs. Bush said: "Nancy
Reagan adores her husband; I adore mine.
She fights drugs; I fight illiteracy. She
wears a size 3; so's my leg." I like
that.
Robert
Browning, the famous English poet, once
wrote, "My business is not to remake
myself, but to make the absolute best of
what God made."
The
numerous names and stories that I have
shared with you so far should have
convinced you of the faithfulness of God
to do whatever has to be done regardless
of the obstacles!
listen now to these verses of
scripture
·
Psalm 139:14 notes, “I will
praise you because I am fearfully and
wonderfully made; your works are
wonderful.
I know that full well.”
·
Genesis 1:27 states, “So God
created man in His own image; in the image
(and likeness) of God created He him.”
·
Psalm 100:3 instructs us that,
“Know that the Lord is God.
It is He who made us, and we are
His; we are His people, the sheep of His
pasture.”
Hear
me, please. I am not saying that He made
us fat, or blind, or dumb. I am saying
that He made us human. He made us in His
image. He made us to be the summit of His
creative powers.
I
challenge you to see yourself as a
creature of God, made for a reason and
purpose by Him. Realize that you are the ONLY you in the whole of human history. Use what God has
given you.
Fill your place nobly.
1
Corinthians 6:19 states (Phillips
Translation):
“Have you forgotten that your body is
the temple of the Holy Spirit… and is
God's gift to you? Therefore, bring glory
to God in your body.”
Furthermore,
the Apostle Paul declares that we are
God’s "workmanship." You see,
each and every one of us are prescription
babies made according to God's own
formula!
The
poet wrote:
Believe
it,
You
are a real find,
A
joy to someone's heart.
You
are a jewel, unique and priceless.
I
don't care how you feel,
Believe
it,
God
don't make no junk.
I
like that; you should, too. You are not
junk -- you are somebody special! (Turn to
the person seated next to you and say,
“You are a very special person in the
sight of God.”)
Any
way you slice the pie -- Jesus said that
we are:
1.
The
salt of the earth;
2.
The
light of the world;
3.
Children
of the Father;
4.
We
are His.
Paul
added that we're:
1.
Accepted
into the beloved;
2.
Heirs
of God;
3.
Joint-heirs
with Christ Jesus;
4.
Gifted;
5.
Blessed;
6.
Equipped;
7.
Victorious;
8.
Triumphant;
as well as
9.
Over-comers.
You
are spirit, soul, as well as body. You
have been created with intellect,
personality, emotions, as well as a free
will. In short, there is more to you than
that which meets the eye.
·
You have a past, a present, and a future.
·
The Presence of God Almighty indwells you.
·
You are an eternal being!
·
You have experienced things that the angels haven’t even experienced.
That is what God our creator says -- believe it!
No doubt you have heard of Harry Houdini, the famed escape artist. He use
to issue a challenge wherever he went. He
could be locked in any jail cell in the
country, he claimed, and set himself free
in short order. He had always kept his
promise, that is until one time something
went wrong. Houdini entered the jail in
his street clothes; the heavy, metal doors
clanged shut behind him. He took from his
belt a concealed piece of metal, strong
and flexible. He set to work immediately,
but something seemed to be unusual about
this lock. For thirty minutes he worked
and got nowhere. An hour passed, and still
he had not opened the door. By now he was
bathed in sweat and panting in
exasperation, but he still could not pick
the lock. Finally, after laboring for two
hours, Harry Houdini collapsed in
frustration and failure against the door
he could not unlock. But when he fell
against the door, it swung open! You see,
IT HAD NEVER BEEN LOCKED AT ALL!
But in his mind it was locked, and
that was all it took to keep him from
opening the door and walking out of the
jail cell.
Friends, some of you may be shut tight in a
cell. The prison is a blockhouse of “I
can’t, I am to fat, to old, to ugly, to
poor, or simply to this or to that.” I
pray that today you will have faith enough
in god’s Word to challenge the door that
holds you fast. With God’s help,
regardless of whatever it is that binds
you, you can be set free! Try the door!
Let me now point out, there are three ways to be
beautiful:
1.
You can be born beautiful.
Who
was it that said, “Beauty is skin deep,
but ugliness goes all the way to the
bone.” Seriously, some people are
seemingly just gifted with good looks.
I enjoy watching Julia Roberts. She is an exceptional actress. I
doubt that that lady has been ugly a day
in her life. But, I just have to say this
– and I don’t mean to make fun of her
– but I think a person could almost
roller-blade on her lips. Man they are
big! While she is truly beautiful, even
she is not perfect.
2.
You can buy beauty.
In preparation for this message, I read what some of the People
Magazine’s 50 beautiful people had
to say about their beauty secrets.
·
One
of the ladies said that she drank lots and
lots of water. (I have tried that, it
obviously doesn’t work on men.)
·
Hydrogen
Peroxide was another person’s beauty
aid.
·
A
number of the women stressed cosmetics;
lots of cosmetics. One lady said that her
make-up artist was her favorite person.
(Wouldn’t you love to see her without
her make-up?)
·
Some
of the men were into cleansing creams in
addition to various soaps. (Strangely,
none of the brothers mentioned Lava or
Borax.)
Whatever, the beauty business is big business in America. Literally
billions of dollars are spent every year
on various sorts of sticks, gels, creams,
colors, and other assorted pieces of
make-up.
Don’t get me wrong here. I truly appreciate the contributions that
Revlon, Mary Kay and the other cosmetic
companies make to our nation. As I like to
point out, “If the barn needs painting,
paint it.”
3.
You can Become beautiful
Listen to 1 Peter 3:3-4 from The New Living Translation: “Don’t
be concerned about the outward beauty that
depends on fancy hairstyles, expensive
jewelry, or beautiful clothes. You should
be known for the beauty that comes from
within, the unfading beauty of a gentle
and quiet spirit, which is so precious to
God. That is the way the holy women of old
made themselves beautiful.”
This is a picture of the real beauty,
the deep beauty that comes from the heart.
This has been called an unfading beauty,
for it is not dimmed with age, nor marred
by scars. This is a beauty that is more
than skin deep.
Such beauty as this can not be found at
the cosmetic counter, nor are you
necessarily born with it. This beauty
requires a process for it must work itself
out to the skin from the heart.
Nevertheless, any plain face can be
transformed by this inner radiance.
Several years ago Edith made a powerful observation on the TV
sitcom “All In The Family.” It seems
as if Edith was being berated by Gloria
for having been so browbeaten by Edith’s
husband Archie Bunker. Edith’s comment
was, “Gloria, has it ever occurred to
you that all you see in Archie is not all
there is?” Edith’s words speaks of so
many areas of our lives – each of our
lives. She reminds us that there are areas
that don’t always show up on the
surface.
When Marilyn Vos Savant, who is listed by Guinness as having the
highest IQ, was asked for one reason not
to look for a beautiful woman to marry
instead of just an ordinary one, she
replied: "A good-looking set of china
doesn't make the meal taste better. We
human beings mostly judge our lives by the
physical beauty, comfort, etc. in life.
But this doesn't make it "taste
better."
It is the essence of life, the
spiritual content that lends
"taste" and substance to our
living.”
Someone wrote:
I
think it would be lovely to live and do
good,
To
grow up to be the girl that I should;
A
heart full of sunshine, a life full of
grace
Are
beauty far better than beauty of face.
I
think it would be lovely to make people
glad,
To
cheer up the lonely, discouraged and sad;
What
matter if homely or pleasant to see,
If
lovely in spirit I’m striving to be.
Notice Proverbs 11:22 (The New Living Translation): “A
woman
who is beautiful but lacks discretion is
like a gold ring in a pig’s snout.”
The
word discretion as used here means modesty
or good taste. Solomon agrees that being
beautiful is as a gold ring. It is lovely;
something to be desired when it is placed
in a setting of modesty, grace, good
taste, and discretion. However, when a
lady is loose, course, irreverent or again
lacking discretion, then she is seen as
being nothing more than a gold jewel in a
pig’s nose.
·
Her
beauty is lost.
·
Her
beauty is wasted.
Madonna is a pretty lady. But her beauty is purely external. You
would not want your daughter to look like
Madonna if it meant that she would act
like her. The same goes for many other
women of stage and screen.
I do not mean to slam these ladies. I actually feel sorry for them.
Theirs is a shallow beauty.
·
True
inner beauty comes with being gentle.
·
True
inner beauty comes with a certain
quietness. In other words, it does not
have to be the center of attention.
·
True
inner beauty gives honor to others who are
due honor.
·
True
inner beauty again manifests itself with a
certain modesty and good taste.
·
True
inner beauty reflects the character of
Jesus Christ. He is like a light that
shines through the person’s words, eyes,
hands, and face.
I dare say that no one here would consider the late Mother Teresa
beautiful. And yet, millions would agree
that she was truly one of the most
beautiful women of our time. Her inner
beauty was so great it overwhelmed any
physical deficiencies she might have had.
While serving in Vietnam in 1969, Dave Roever nearly died when a
phosphorus grenade exploded six inches
from his right ear. He survived, but was
badly disfigured. In his talks on this
experience he describes his reunion with
his pretty young wife, Brenda. “Brenda
walked straight up to my bed, paused at
the chart, read the tag on my arm and,
showing not the slightest tremor of horror
or shock, bent over and kissed me on what
was left of my face. Then she looked me in
my good eye, smiled and said:
"Welcome home, Davey. I love
you!" All I could say was, "I
want you to know I'm real sorry." She
asked: "Why are you sorry?"
"Because I can never look good for
you again." She grinned and said,
"Oh, Davey, you never were
good-looking anyway." That was the
beginning of the deep psychological and
spiritual healing which eventually
quenched the fire of my ordeal so I could
face the world again.”
Dave’s wife looked past the scars and the missing parts of
Roever’s body, to the abiding beauty
which was still inside the husband that
she loved.
Well, I had better close. I want to do so with one final
thought and application.
Someone, I don’t remember who, wrote something
years ago that literally changed my life.
Let me share this life-changing quote with
you: "We
would worry a lot less about what others
think of us -- if only we'd realize how
seldom they do!" Due to my
complex complexes as a poor boy growing up
in Kansas, I use to think that everybody
was setting around looking at as well as
thinking about me.
·
They were thinking about my broken teeth.
·
They were thinking about how skinny I was.
·
They were thinking about how poor I looked.
And yet, the truth is, they weren’t thinking about
me at all. They were, like me, thinking of
themselves!
Another
wise person noted:
·
At
age 20, we worry about what others think
of us.
·
At
40, we don't care what they think of us.
·
At
60, we discover that they haven't been
thinking about us at all.
In short: look at others and be distressed;
look at self and be depressed;
look at Jesus and you will be blessed.
That is pretty good advice, if you want to be one the
most beautiful people in the world
