A New Look at Our Looks

“Man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart” (1 Sam. 16:7). Mankind tends to put much emphasis on outward appearance. Many children grow up believing their worth is defined by how they look. Adults are tempted to make divers assumptions about others based on physical attractiveness. We think we know how fun, smart, or wealthy people are by what our eyes see. How misleading is our human evaluation! Through it we would not have recognized the Lord of Glory.

Jesus Christ, the Everlasting God, when He took on flesh, accepted an unattractive frame. Can you believe it? It almost sounds like heresy to say the God-Man was unattractive. But Isaiah says it clearly: “He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in His appearance that we should desire Him” (Isa. 53:2-3, emphasis mine). He had no special appearance that we should love Him on this basis.

People are ever grasping after a more stunning physical show—in our day there are all sorts of surgeries to change undesirable traits—and here is the Christ, the One most worthy of a stunning image, and He chose a plain one. He who is destined to be the Desire of all nations was born in an animal stable. He is more awesome than all the sons of men, yet He came to us with a physical appearance that did not attract people. When He reigns from Jerusalem, all peoples of the earth will stream there to learn from Him; but when He first came, He was despised and rejected.

One day, Christ will be the most sought-after and desirable Man in all heaven and earth. How we will crave His presence. We will love to hear Him speak and laugh and sing. Oh, the glory of His person! We will be so drawn to Him. For all the ages to come, we will be fascinated by His beauty! His joy, humility, wisdom, tenderness, and power will ignite yearning for Him again and again. But back to His first coming… He didn’t choose a stunning frame to attract crowds. He wanted His influence to come from the inside out.

When Christ came into the world, he said: “Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but a body you prepared for me … Here I am… I have come to do your will, O God” (Hebrews 10:5-7, emphasis mine). It may be more accurate to say that the Father chose a simple frame for Jesus, and Jesus accepted it. He fully entered into the physical weakness of human experience (Php. 2:6-8). He knows what it’s like to cultivate grateful love with what you’ve been given, to receive the invitation to grow in inward glory. We struggle against bitterness over what the Father hasn’t granted; He rejoiced in what the Father gave Him (Ps. 40:8; 16:5-6).

The Lord is calling us to repent of internalizing man’s fallen definitions of worth. He wants us to agree with Him that His creation of us is good. He planned us with great thoughtfulness (Ps. 139)! He designed how all aspects of our person—appearance, personality, gift mix, and more—would blend together. And He loves how He made us. Oh, we should not hate what He so deeply loves!

I think the deceiver assigns demons to linger at mirrors, waiting to breathe foul lies upon us when we awaken in the morning and prepare for the day. He sows thoughts of rejection of the ‘raw material’ God has given us to work with, which leads to comparison, envy, and self-hatred. All the while, our heavenly Father would tell us there is stunning uniqueness in what we see as ordinary. Even through our lowly traits, He is inviting us to grow in glory on the inside, “the imperishable quality” of a yielded heart, “which is precious in the sight of God” (1 Pet. 3). God wants us to renew our minds according to what He thinks about us, rather than being conformed to the world’s evaluations of worth (Rom. 12:1-2).
What would happen if we took a minute to confess—to say it out loud—Psalm 139:13-14 before we got out of bed to look in that mirror? Perhaps it would transform the way we see ourselves and others. Perhaps a new culture (one of life and joy!) would be created within us that is more powerful than the culture of despair outside of us. Perhaps it would transform us, day by day.

O Lord, give us a new look at how You have made us.

Tagged as: appearance, self-acceptance, self-image