Looking (TOO) Good

good-bad-jonThe first time I took a selfie with my new camera phone, I couldn’t believe how it turned out. I looked at the picture and thought … I didn’t realize my face was that thin … and look how few wrinkles I have for a guy my age. Man, my teeth are white and … look at how my eyes sparkle. I had no idea I still looked that good! 
 
Well … here’s the deal. I discovered that my new phone’s camera has a “beauty mode” … that … um … fixes things. You can set the beauty control on a ten-point scale between “Plain Jane” and “Stunning.” It also has a “compare” button so you can see before and after … not a good idea, unless you have a healthy self-image.
 
THIS IS NOT A GREAT INVENTION. Being made to look better now will only make me look that much worse in the future. If I publish the doctored picture online for all my friends back home to see … the future “in-person” experience will be a horrible shock. They’ll think “My, my how quickly the work has aged poor Pastor Jon.”
 
The sad thing is that many of us turn on the “beauty control” every time we walk through the door of the church. Looking too good now, might make you look that much worse later. Sadder yet, maybe we’ll never get to know, help or encourage the real you.
  • Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ. Galatians 6:2 
  • Encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing. 1 Thessalonians 5:11 
  • But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness. Hebrews 3:13

It’s going to be hard to keep those commands if we never take it off “beauty mode.”


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