Beautiful to Me

My friend Margy asked me to write a devotion for the prayer room at church. Here's what I wrote for tomorrow. It's based on Isaiah 53:1-12.

1Who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed? 2 He grew up before him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground. He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him. 3 He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. 4 Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted.
5 But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed. 6 We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all. 7 He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth. 8 By oppression and judgment he was taken away. And who can speak of his descendants? For he was cut off from the land of the living; for the transgression of my people he was stricken. 9 He was assigned a grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death, though he had done no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth.
10 Yet it was the LORD's will to crush him and cause him to suffer, and though the LORD makes his life a guilt offering, he will see his offspring and prolong his days, and the will of the LORD will prosper in his hand. 11 After the suffering of his soul, he will see the light of life and be satisfied; by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many, and he will bear their iniquities. 12 Therefore I will give him a portion among the great, and he will divide the spoils with the strong, because he poured out his life unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors. For he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.

Our society is obsessed with physical beauty. We can buy a salve or a serum or a surgery to create or recreate the look we want. Every major network morning talk show has segments on how to dress, what to eat, what to buy or even how to stand to look more beautiful. The red carpet has become our altar. We are all about wearing the right clothes, having the right hair cut and hiding those unsightly bags under our eyes.

Even our artistic depictions of Jesus are guilty of this obsession. Most show him as a handsome man with striking eyes, perfect skin and gorgeous flowing hair. But according to Isaiah, those depictions are just plain wrong. Isaiah 53:2b says, “He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.” So in all likelihood Jesus looked NOTHING like Jim Caviezel.

Jesus did not have those movie star good looks. More likely he had those bags under his eyes from sleeping on the ground night after night and his skin was dry and cracked from standing under the baking Middle Eastern sun, he probably smelled of sweat and sheep. When people of his day looked on Jesus, they were not awed by his external beauty. They were awed by something else, something that many were drawn to, but still others were offended by. “ 3 He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.” Isaiah 53:3

They were looking at the Son of the living God, the one who was sent to seek that what was lost. Yet so many did not see his beauty or understand his purpose. “ 4 Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted.” Isaiah 53:4.

Yet this man in whom no one saw anything beautiful did the most beautiful thing of all. Jesus lived out his own words in John 15: 13, “13Greater love has no one than this that he lay down his life for his friends.”

Pray that you have the courage to take your eyes off yourself and all those images that bombard you of beauty and seek the true beauty of a life lived for Christ and others.

Pray that your every day life would be a reflection of the creator of all beauty.