Rather than feel guilty about this whole thing, we can only be empowered to really get to know each other.
To see beyond physicality and to dive into the fullness of human friendship, to fight the reflex of facial evaluation, to opt for humility instead of sizing-up superiority.
None of that is easy because our default mode is judgment, but that little extra work to pull from the gravity of appearance will go a long way to a deeper, fulfilled joy in our relationships. I don’t want to rob myself of getting to know you simply because of some idiotic, postmodern notion that image counts above all.
Image never matters where life actually matters.
I imagine Jesus going to the blind, beggars, lepers, sick, demon-possessed and little children—and I bet he fit right in.
Maybe no one could tell it was Jesus from afar, because they expected someone cleaner.
I wonder if Jesus bent down on one knee to the girl with the cleft lip, touched her face and called her beautiful. I wonder if he prayed for her right on the spot, hugged her, pulled back her hair and told her to smile. I wish I could’ve seen her light up, throw off all insecurity and do something worthy with her life.
That’s what Jesus is about. I want to be about that too.
The worldly man treats certain people kindly because he “likes” them. The Christian, trying to treat every one kindly, finds him liking more and more people as he goes on—including people he could not even have imagined himself liking at the beginning.
– C.S. Lewis
The LORD does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.
– 1 Sam. 16:7b
Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as braided hair and the wearing of gold jewelry and fine clothes. Instead, 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.
– 1 Peter 3:3-4
