There is a TV show on the Syfy channel called Face Off. In the show, makeup artists compete against each other to create new, crazy faces using a normal person's face as their canvas - ultimately creating a whole new person or creature. When we see the photos of the finished product it's often hard to imagine what the person looked like before - or said another way, to recall what the person underneath looks like.
I find it very interesting that when the makeup artist is done and we see what they've created, we as viewers only see the "after." This new image becomes our basis for judging what we're looking at. It might strike fear in us or puzzlement. We may not know how to react.
Can you imagine that person underneath the makeup and treat what you're seeing as that person? Or, is the new image too hard to look past?
Acts 3:1-10 is an account of a man who was lame from birth. He could not work because of it and so resorted to begging. How do you imagine most people looked upon him? Did they only see a person with a disability? Maybe someone they didn't respect? Maybe his deformity made them uncomfortable. Maybe they ignored him because of it.
Today, on the other hand, we often worship those we consider beautiful and disregard those who are not. Shows like Miss America are a good example. As you can see, we are still judging people by the way they look.
Most cell phones have within them a SIM card. A small chip that holds our personal information. We may have an old, junky cell phone, but all it takes is removing the SIM card and inserting it into a brand new phone and suddenly our phone takes on a new identity. The guts of it may basically be the same, but now the part we see is new and it may even have new features. Which phone do you want?
We are not the bodies we live in. We are a spirit created by our Father in heaven. Our bodies will not go to heaven when they die, but our spirits will if we accept Jesus as our Savior (1 Corinthians 15:50).
Our spirit, then is like the SIM card in your cell phone, and our bodies are like the phone.
If this is true, why then do we judge people so often simply by the way we look? We like beauty, but stay away from ugly. Why? Have you ever stopped and looked past the skin of the person in front of you? Have you ever looked past the skin and instead looked into their eyes and into their soul?
Can we effectively do God's will and share the gospel with people if we are so preoccupied with who we think they are based only by how they look, whether it is a deformity or as simple as skin color or heritage?
Tonight I pray, Lord, that you help us look past what our eyes see and instead look at what You see - what is beneath - the spirit you created us to be. I pray our lives today will not be hindered or clouded by what we see in the mirror. Help us see ourselves as you see us too. Our bodies are temporary, but our spirit is eternal. I pray we know who we are in You and that we look closely at others to see who they are too.
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