Look around. It's beautiful.

Something To Think About, BEAUTY:

I am privileged to live in an incredibly beautiful place on God's globe.  It is sad that so often I fail to look.  I took a bike ride in the country, yesterday, then my wife and I went to a local lake and sat on the mirror like surface and enjoyed supper.  The mountains around the water turned from green to black silhouettes, rimmed with the last golden light of day.  A flock of birds moving in amazing unison stretched across the sky like a huge ribbon in the wind, twisting, turning, vanishing, returning.  Then today I took a one hundred twenty mile round trip through the mountains and along a couple of streams.  The morning fog turned to blue skies, but patches of mist still clung to some of the ridges. I don't always look at the beauty around me.  Sometimes I'm in a hurry so I rush by.  Other times I'm looking down so I won't stumble, or my focus is inward on my problems.  In the same way that the"worries of the world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things" choke out the good seed of the Word of God before it bears fruit (Mark 4:19), carrying daily worries around--especially beyond their intended one day shelf-life--blinds one to the beauty of God's world. I'm not your doctor, I'm just a guy who tries to write something worth thinking about from time to time, but here is my prescription:      Take a minute, or two, or three, or a whole hour, look around, and thank God for the beauty of the world. In spite of the blight of sin, it is still wonderful to behold. Then, with the wonder still in your heart, say, "Thank You, Lord." It's STTA.

Using our resources to make the world more beautiful:

Something To Think About, Adding beauty to the world:

I don't know much about Sainsbury's.  I did find that it is a large grocery retailer in the United Kingdom.  I do know that I am very impressed with the ad, or as they say over there, "advert," that they put out for the 2014 Christmas season.  I encourage you to take four minutes and watch it. I think you'll be glad you did. I look at this ad and think this is what we as God's people ought to be doing.  Most of us don't have a large advertising budget at our disposal, that would enable us to make a high-quality video like this, but each of us can do something that will make our world better.  One of the members of the church I pastor recently posted this on her Facebook page, "I am a servant of the Lord masquerading as a bus driver and cake decorator."  That is a paradigm that all of God's people ought to adopt.  Whatever I may do to earn a living, I am first and foremost a representative of the King of Kings.  Whatever I do, I should do for His glory. I don't know if the owners of Sainsbury's share my faith in the Christ of Christmas.  I certainly thank them for not only making the world more beautiful, but for challenging me to do so, as well. And, I hope, in a small way, I'm doing the same for you. It's Something To Think About. Here is a site where you can find out about Jesus Christ and His plan for you.  You'll find several opportunities to explore.  If we can help you, let us know.  covingtonbiblechurch.com

I'm Handsome. Pay me!

In one of his early books Dr. James Dobson wrote about an unfortunate, unplanned experiment in social response. His daughter, an exceptionally cute little girl, had a bad fall. The injuries left her with a grotesque looking mouth and nose--thankfully temporary. Instantly, the Dobsons had abundant illustrations of the beauty premium. Danae was the same child on the inside, but her appearance caused her to be treated radically differently than she had been just a few days before--sometimes by the very same people.

The Old-Testament King, Saul, was the recipient of this unearned and undeserved bonus. Samuel observes, "there was not a more handsome person . . . among the sons of Israel; from his shoulders and up he was taller than any of the people." (1 Samuel 10:23) Unfortunately, he was a male version of this tragic Proverb, "As a ring of gold in a swine's snout So is a beautiful woman who lacks discretion." (Proverbs 11:22) Today we might refer to such a person as an "empty suit."

The problem is the empty suit often gets gold ring. A recent Newsweek article indicates that being good looking is worth a quarter of a million over a lifetime. Hiring managers, when asked about female applicants, admitted that physical attractiveness has more impact than educational accomplishments.

It is another version of our tendency to externalism (see yesterday's STTA). Those of us who claim to walk with and serve the God "who looks on the heart," must resist this syndrome. A pleasant looking exterior is a gift from God. Like all God's gifts, good looks ought to be appreciated. But we must resist our culture's unfortunate tendency to focus on the outside to the exclusion of the consideration of deeper, more important virtues."

Beauty is vain, but a woman [or a man] who fears the Lord, she [he] shall be praised." (Proverbs 31:30) That's how God sees it.

It's STTA.

(As usual, Al Mohler has some thoughts worth reading on this matter,http://www.albertmohler.com/2010/07/22/the-snare-of-beauty-flashpoints-of-our-obsession-with-attractiveness/)