October 22, 2015

“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.” I Peter 3:3-4 NIV

“Voluptuous blonde actresses and famous well-built athletes: What do they have in common besides million dollar salaries? One common denominator I observe is the illusion of perfection, modeled by their outward appearance. This philosophic thought came to me at the post office. Long lines of impatient customers and rows of tiny post boxes do not usually produce an atmosphere of contemplation. But today I gazed at the stamp designs, enlarged and framed. The splashy illustrations showed perfectly formed bodies. The drawings ignored inborn flaws of ordinary people. As I inched forward to mail my package, I pondered the committee’s choice of stamp heroes. Did a special stamp commission or maybe a government bigwig vote from a list of persons whom they emulated and revered? Let me describe a person they should have chosen. She is not a glamorous blonde, but has been a beautiful redhead for her 47 years. Or, she did have red hair, before radiation and chemotherapy. She has had brain surgery and a bone plate removed from her skull. She now sports a large hollow spot, her scalp sinking in a four-inch wide circle on the side of her nearly bald head. A large U-shaped scar surrounds that indentation.

This description doesn’t match the images on those postage stamp portraits. But I am certain my sister is more beautiful than any Hollywood legend. She is better qualified to be honored on a stamp than any big-name athlete. My sister Marilyn has inner beauty that a scalpel cannot mutilate. Radiation may destroy her hair follicles but they cannot destroy her soul. She models her life as a Christ-follower and has her eyes fixed on a crown. She gives glory to God in all her circumstances. Her earthly tent may be stricken with brain cancer, but the core of her being has not changed. In the face of terminal illness she has strong faith—even on the hard days. In spite of physical misery, she remains motivated to help others. She’s wheelchair bound, so she phones: Ordering gift books, giving words of encouragement; words of witness that everyone can be made whole and forgiven through Jesus Christ.” (Kathleen Grimm Welty, CBN website)

We often look for models of “something” — a person or a picture that models what it is we are selling, or proclaiming. For example, Jesus one day was talking to his disciples, trying to teach them what discipleship in the “Kingdom of G*d” looked like. His disciples had just finished arguing amongst themselves about who was greater than whom, and Jesus was desperately trying to teach them about his own suffering, death and resurrection. So, Jesus took a child and placed the child in among them and said “Anyone who welcomes this child welcomes me.” Or in other words, the child was Jesus’ model for discipleship — someone who has the purity, the innocence, the willingness and the openness to join in with his mission. This was Jesus’ model, but it didn’t fit the disciples’ model for discipleship. They wanted to be “rulers”, “leaders”, “kings” along with the power and prestige that would come with it — Jesus was trying to tell them they had the wrong model in mind.

The church and the world are filled with people who want to be first, who want to be leaders, who want to be held in great esteem, who seek glory and power. Jesus says that unless we strip away these “models” of greatness in our hearts, minds, and churches, our striving to be first will only lead us to last place.

Pastor Dave