Don’t you just love those hooks on internet articles: “What This Former Beauty Queen Looks Like Now Is Incredible,” or “You Won’t Believe How This Star Looks Now!”?

(Scroll to the bottom of the page to see what this star looks like today!)

 

If you click on the picture of the young star you’ll find it’s more of a commercial than a news story. And when you see the picture, you get a jolt when you realize they’re not 25 anymore. (And it reminds us that most of us aren’t either).

Let’s face it. If you’re better looking now than you were forty years ago, you were probably really homely forty years ago. (“Homely” = “ugly” for my British readers).

Are You Going Forward Or Backward?

And still … still. I hope I’m better looking inside than I was when I started out with the Lord. The inside beauty I’m talking about can’t be located by an x-ray or a cat scan. I’m talking about my character, my heart, the core of who I am.

It’s possible to get better looking as we go forward.

“Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day. For our momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison, while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.” 2 Cor. 4:16-18, NASB

How Can I Do This?

Now if I were to lift weights, run marathons, color my hair, get a facelift and put on (man) make-up, I might look a little better on the outside. But, if I stopped doing that one moment, everything would start to sag again.

Gravity is rough on aging bodies.

Let’s do the best we can but trying to look young again is like trying to empty the ocean with a teaspoon.

Can we make some permanent improvements on the inside, though? Yes!

Practically How?

–We can change our way of looking at things. Constantly remember that these battles

—when we fight them in faith—produce an eternal glory. We’ll have heavenly rewards. Yes, it’s true. We send over deposits in the bank of Heaven. Our inside man is getting better looking each day and all the while we’re storing up eternal benefits.

–We keep our eyes on what we can’t see with our physical eyes. Our time on this world world passes like the shadow of a cloud that hurries between us and the sun. Then it’s gone. When you’re twenty and full of dreams, that’s hard to realize. But, you need to start working on the inside while the outside is still good-looking.

–Exercise spiritually and put on spiritual cosmetics. Get better looking, better smelling. How? Read God’s Word to learn what pleases Him, then by the strength He gives you, do that. Pray each day, seeking to know Him better. Read books that draw your heart to Him. Hang around people who know Him. Ask how they do it. Build strong relationships with someone who knows God better than you. Serve the Lord by serving the man next to you.

–An athlete who wants to excel works at it—he trains, he eats correctly, he learns how to improve. He wants victory with everything he’s got, so he goes after it.

That’s how you get good-looking in Jesus. Do you want it? No, no … do you really want it?

Peter speaks to wives but the truth is powerful for everyone of us:

“There are husbands who, indifferent as they are to any words about God, will be captivated by your life of holy beauty. What matters is not your outer appearance—the styling of your hair, the jewelry you wear, the cut of your clothes—but your inner disposition.

“Cultivate inner beauty, the gentle, gracious kind that God delights in. The holy women of old were beautiful before God that way, and were good, loyal wives to their husbands.”

Could we say, “Guys, cultivate inner handsomeness”? (That is a word by the way, for those of you who are smirking at my English).

Then there will be hope for us when we look in God’s mirror.

Our star today …

Got you 🙂

If you’d like to subscribe to Coffee Stains sent an email to: david.porter@agmd.org and say “subscribe.”

Hummm …

“Everyone is a genius. But, if you judge a fish based on its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.” Einstein

“But I’ve come to see that God’s definition of a promotion, is a move toward your call. Don’t let someone promote you out of your call. Not every tuba player has the skills to direct the orchestra. If you can, then do. If you can’t, blast away on your tuba with delight!

From God is With You Every Day Max Lucado