Beauty is Only….(3 Thoughts on Beauty)

1.  Heads – you win (The beauty of accepting yourself)

Most of this years dramas are based, in some form or the other on “real life” experiences I’ve had.  “Beauty Is Only” was inspired partially by the “Dove Evolution” video in our program, partially on billboards for a certain store in Omaha (which really grate on me), but primarily on an experience I had in college.

Late in my college career, there was a new music student that arrived on campus one fall.  To this day, I don’t remember her name, but I remember her very well - for a number of reasons.  She had a boyish figure, and was not shy about pointing it out, which was something I’d never seen before in a college girl.  While she was pleasant looking, she would never be recruited for a career in modeling, but she didn’t seem to care too much about that either.  She was comfortable pointing out her physical flaws, and was actually pretty comical about it in the process.

Up to that point in my life, I had never met anyone who was so comfortable with the limits of their own physical appearance.  It was kind of refreshing, disarming and endearing all at the same time.

As I got to know this girl better (we were in a small music ensemble together), I learned that she was a strong Christian.  I also remember that she was either engaged when she came to school, or a least had a pretty serious boyfriend.

What was interesting about the situation is how much she was like “Chelsea Simmons” in the drama sketch “Beauty is Only”.  While she wouldn’t have “stood out” from the crowd in terms of physical beauty, she was extremely well liked my almost everyone.  In fact, it was very obvious that if her relationship status were to change, there would have been a line of guys waiting to ask her out.

Why was this so?  If you believe everything you see in advertising (please don’t!), you’d have thought she didn’t stand a chance.  She had virtually none of the characteristics that TV and the media tell you have to have to succeed in love and life.

It took me a little while to realize it, but it comes back to that “inner beauty” issue.  She was friendly to everyone.  She was joyous.  She was selfless.  She was caring.  She was funny.  This girl had such a beautiful (and Godly) personality, that she was attractive to nearly everyone.  I also firmly believe that her relationship with God was a primary factor in her acceptance of herself as she was.

2.  Tails – You Lose (the other side of the coin)

I’m going to show my age here, but I think one of the most beautiful female voices in the world belonged to Karen Carpenter.  She and her brother Richard performed as a pop duo in the 70’s called “The Carpenters”.  Karen had an absolutely gorgeous low alto voice, almost bordering on a tenor voice.  While their songs don’t get much airplay these days, you’ve likely heard her at Christmas time singing “Merry Christmas, Darling”.

I’m not the only one who strongly admired her voice.  When I hang out with my musician friends (teachers, players, worship team members – you name it) and Karen Carpenter’s name comes up, everyone marvels at how beautiful her voice was.

However, while Karen Carpenter is known for her silky smooth voice, she’s almost more famous for something else.  It was her death in 1983, at the age of 32 (yes – 32), that brought the term “anorexia” into the vocabulary of most Americans.

Prior to Karen’s death, very few people were even aware what “anorexia nervosa” was – I certainly had never heard of it.  But after her death when people saw pictures of the near skeleton she had become, it literally shocked our country and brought eating disorders out of the shadows and into the light.

The causes of anorexia (or any other eating disorder) are complex, and are not totally understood, even today.  But one contributing factor is that of self-perception.  Those with eating disorders almost often have a distorted image of themselves.

Why do people have these distorted images?  That's a complex question too, but I can't help but believe that our society's obsession with looking a certain way is at least one contributing factor.   As illustrated in the "Dove: Evolution" video, not only does our media try and convince young women that they have to fit a certain mold to feel good about themselves, but it's even come to the point where what we see isn't even real - but computer manipulated.

3.  What matters to God?

If you study the Bible carefully, there are often little things that we can learn that aren’t obvious at first.  For example, we have a pretty good idea that Mary and Joseph weren’t well off at the time of Jesus’ birth, even though the scriptures don’t tell us this directly.

If you look at the offering that Mary and Joseph brought when Jesus was presented at the temple in the second chapter of Luke, we have the clue.  Read the story carefully, and then go and read Leviticus Chapter 12 verse 7b through verse 8.  Very interesting what you can learn with a little digging….

We have a similar situation when we ponder – what did Jesus look like?  Obviously we had no cameras at the time and no painters to offer to paint his portrait.  However, you would expect a great public figure like Jesus, with thousands of followers to be good-looking and charismatic, wouldn’t you?  After all, that’s the way it works in modern day America, isn’t it?

Not so fast…..

While we don’t have any direct references to what Jesus looked like, other than that he had a beard, we have a clue from the prophet Isaiah.  In Isaiah Chapter 53, we have a prophecy that is made about Jesus.  While we often hear verses 4-7 quoted (“He was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities”), note what verse 2 says about Jesus:  “He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to Him, nothing in His appearance that we should desire Him”.  

Wow.  “He had no beauty…to attract us to Him”.  If we’re reading and interpreting this passage correctly, what might that tell us about God?  Well, if physical beauty (or what we as humans consider beauty) is of the utmost importance to God, wouldn’t he have made his own Son attractive enough to be a likely candidate for the cover of the latest fashion magazine?  Apparently not - according to the prophet Isaiah.

Maybe it’s because God cares very little about how we look, but cares greatly about our character.  Consider what God said to Samuel when he was in the midst of choosing David to be king of Israel:

“The LORD does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart”.

Or how about Proverbs 31:

“Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting; but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised”. 

In the end, I leave you with the verse that Brad shares with Stacy in the drama sketch.  In reality, I think it speaks volumes about what God thinks about beauty, and what he values most about us.  And that is the truth that can set you free, just like it did for my classmate I mentioned at the beginning of this blog….

“Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as elaborate hairstyles and the wearing of gold jewelry or fine clothes. Rather, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight” (I Peter 3:3-4)