TRUE BEAUTY:
1 Peter 3:3-4
King James Version
3 Whose adorning
let it not be that outward adorning
of plaiting the hair,
and of wearing of gold,
or of putting on of apparel;
4 But let it be the hidden man of the heart,
in that which is not corruptible,
even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit,
which is in the sight of God of great price.
It takes real courage to change.
Can you do a 180-degree turn?
That's what being born again means.
To turn your back on what the world has offered you, so far.
Perhaps, you're successful, and you resent this "intrusion".
Or maybe, it's been a dry bed, for sometime.
Where before, success came in droves, now it's practically a desert.
Perhaps, you have it all, but somehow there's still "something missing.
And you can't quite put a finger on it.
No one can, either.
Especially if we are of this world.
We can't really help you.
We'll deliver more of the same.
Empty dreams.
Empty promises.
Love that doesn't last.
Love that doesn't stick around.
Fleeting success.
Vicious competition.
People you can't quite trust.
People who just want your money.
Same thing everywhere.
Greed, vanity, soullessness, discontent.
A vast emptiness.
Even depression.
A deep yearning to know more.
To have your questions answered.
To really look up to someone.
To have someone you can really, honestly trust.
Someone you can pour your heart out to.
And not be judged.
Or gossiped about.
Someone who will give your life meaning.
Or to have work that's meaningful.
And not just punch time.
A reason to get up happily each morning.
A bigger reason than what the world has given you, so far.
Something that's not rigged, or fixed.
Coz you know, and you can feel, that something's not quite right in the world.
Again, you can't seem to point a finger on it.
Everything seems clouded.
Your thinking's clouded.
You're in a fog.
You're choking, from you don't know what.
You can't seem to breathe.
Or think.
Or speak.
Because they won't allow you.
They've piled the bills so high, you don't know if you can swim from it.
You worry about your kids.
You're shocked at how the world's deteriorating.
You've stopped reading, or watching the news.
Everything seems so chaotic.
And hopeless.
Maybe, you don't have retirement stashed away.
Or what people keep harping about -- a nest egg.
Why are others having a better time?
What seems to be your problem?
Why not you?
Why can't you be like them, and just go for it?
You know, the big bucks.
The fast bucks.
No questions asked.
Ask me no questions, so I won't tell you plenty lies.
Why do you ask too many questions?
That makes people uncomfortable, they say.
Just stick your nose to your every day grindstone.
Try not to look too far, or too high up.
Just grin, and bear it.
Endure, and wing it.
Surely, these things, too, shall pass away?
No one's immortal.
We all have one destination.
Maybe, you'll be given a better life, in a next life?
Is there a next life?
Who can tell you about such things?
What's the purpose to it all?
This exercise, in existence?
Why does life have to be so hard?
Hard?
I'm having the time of my life, sez your colleague.
And looks at you strangely.
Hoping you'll get your act together.
For he can't be around you.
And you hear that "L" word.
Loser.
That's what they call people who can't seem to make it in this world.
And they drive you ever deeper into that pit.
Making sure you can't rise from it.
Is this it?
Is this what life is all about?
Is there something more?
Is there something else?
Do you want to be famous?
Or do you want to be obscure?
People don't like people who think too much.
They say you're boring.
You ask too many questions.
You're getting to be a "pain".
Let's just party.
Actually, you make them uncomfortable.
In the secret recesses of their mind, they don't want to echo your own questions.
Too frightening.
What if YOU're RIGHT?
What if there's really something more?
Then that will make them look stupid.
That will make their efforts useless.
And they'll find they've been hamsters on a wheel.
Oh boy, ego can't take that.
Nope, get away from me!
Go ask your existential questions elsewhere.
And hopefully, you'll find your answers.
And one day, you did.
Lost, exhausted, defeated, broke, almost gone, you did one strange thing.
You PRAYED.
Maybe, you even screamed at God.
And got an ANSWER.
And now, you don't need anything the world bandies about.
You've seen through the delusion.
You mean, illusion?
Both.
You were in a good place, after all.
You had nothing.
And that's what God waited for.
Otherwise, you'd be like everyone else.
Busy competing, and partying.
So, you find everything was so unnecessary.
The parties, the competition, breaking your back working for a buck to make others rich, and everything the world occupies their time with.
Afraid that if they stopped, there'd be nothing.
So, they kept going.
All you've got is your BIBLE.
Wow.
A Bible?
That's all you've got??
This time, you look at them strangely.
"What else would I need?"
And you walk away, wiping the dust off your feet.
For you have an appointment with JESUS.
He wants to tell you more.
All the while thinking to yourself:
Sin is ugly.
JESUS is BEAUTIFUL.
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(Image source: GLady on Pixabay)
