It is hard for me to believe we are nearing the fiftieth
anniversary of the first manned moon landing.
I was a child while the race for space was taking place.
In those days before the Internet, products and services used
the moon landing in their promotions.
I eagerly anticipated the moon landing and took in as much
coverage as I could.
Perhaps that explains my continued fondness for science
fiction especially works from the 1950’s and 1960’s.
It was great anticipating the progress we might have made.
That said, many works from that genre and era depicted evil
aliens as ugly or disfigured.
Heroes on the other hand were depicted as either beautiful or
handsome.
The same generally holds true today.
We still tend to associate beauty with goodness.
People have been making this assumption for centuries.
It even happened in Biblical times.
Take the time Samuel anointed David king.
Before David was brought before Samuel, Samuel was certain he
knew whom God had chosen.
1 Samuel 16:6 (NET) - When they arrived, Samuel noticed Eliab and said
to himself, “Surely, here before the Lord stands his chosen king!”
But God does not look at people the way we do.
1 Samuel 16:7 (NET) - But the Lord said to Samuel,
“Don’t be impressed by his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him.
God does not view things the way men do. People look on the outward appearance,
but the Lord looks at the heart.”
This is certainly not the only time scripture discusses this.
The New Testament warns us that outward appearance can be
deceiving, perhaps even our own.
Matthew 23:28 (NET) - In the same way, on the outside
you look righteous to people, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and
lawlessness.
Even the things we do to make ourselves more attractive on
the outside are of little consequence.
1 Peter 3:3-4 (NET) - Let your beauty not be
external—the braiding of hair and wearing of gold jewelry or fine clothes— but
the inner person of the heart, the lasting beauty of a gentle and tranquil
spirit, which is precious in God’s sight.
In the end, it is our internal beauty that matters most.
A beauty that is only perfected by knowing Christ.
By the way, there is one more thing I remember about the space
program.
Namely, it is the missions that followed the first moon
landing.
In very little time, people became tired of it and viewing
figures plummeted.
In a short while, manned missions to the moon stopped
altogether.
This reminds me of the Parable of the Sower, particularly of
the seed sewn on rocky ground.
Matthew 13:20-21 (NET) - The seed sown on rocky ground is the person
who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy. But he has no root in
himself and does not endure; when trouble or persecution comes because of the
word, immediately he falls away.
Internal beauty is possible, and it can last a lifetime.
It only happens when we commit our hearts to the Lord for as
long as we live.
Blessings,
Jim Pokorny
The Other Brother Jim
Look for me at http://otherbrotherjim.blogspot.com/ on
Friday, June 28, 2019.
I’ll be back here on Friday, July
5, 2019
