(by Anwar Smith) I am going to make a confession that may be a bit controversial and for our more sensitive readers I must apologize. I was looking in the mirror this morning as I prepared for work and I noticed that I am beginning to develop “moobs”. Some of you may not know what I am talking about so for the sake of family-friendliness I will best describe this anomaly as something that is formed when pectoral muscles are no longer muscular therefore causing them to droop and/or sag. This is not a scientific definition but I think you get the picture. This issue is not one that should not concern me as I try not to get caught up in my personal appearance too much. I am at the age where I am supposed to be beyond all of that. But this particular bodily defect began to bring to mind the thought that I am actually getting old. My macho persona could be compromised by this major flaw.
I wonder how many of you reading this article has noticed this flaw of mine for some time and just never had the heart to tell me. I wonder if I have been the brunt of endless jokes because everyone has noticed my apparent “problem” but me. I know it sounds silly to think that everyone has been focusing on and making jokes about my apparent or not so apparent flaw. I guess along with this confession I need to confess about my giant ego as well; because to think that “everyone” is so into me that they notice my self proclaimed flaws, means I must think a lot of myself.
Confession is good for the soul and I feel a lot better getting those out of my system. Yet, somehow, I have this sneaking suspicion that I am not the only one that has to confess this issue of vanity. Do you stare into the mirror and just count your flaws? Do you lament about your height or weight, your hair color, your nose being too long or too short? As visual beings we can’t help but pay attention to our external features. But the question is; do we focus too much on what we perceive as negatives in our appearance? I was reading through the Psalms recently and I came across Psalm 139:14 which says: “I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.”
God why did you make me so short? God why is my head so big? God why did you give me freckles? Those questions are easily answered in this passage. God made you the way he did because he looked at you through the eyes of perfection and said you were a beautiful, wonderful creation. David realized that when he wrote those words. Yet David took his admiration of God’s handiwork to a whole new level and said that he praises God because of the way he was made. Now this may be a stupid question but have you praised God for the way he made you lately? I’m not talking about choosing not to exercise or eat healthy and then praising God for your poor health habits. Nor am I talking about considering yourself God’s gift to the earth and then praising God because he apparently put in some overtime to create you so perfectly.
I am talking about praising God for the fact that you were uniquely created by a perfect, loving creator who is incapable of making mistakes. You are the only person in this world that looks like you (there are even differences in identical twins). You are fearfully and wonderfully made and you should know full well that anything created by God is wonderful. You were made just the way God wanted you to be.
Now, I will probably do some push ups and maybe hit the weights once or twice to work on my “moob” problem because that is something that I can physically control without surgery or any other major medical alterations. I do believe that living healthy and taking care of one self is honoring to God. But, for some of you, your so called “flaw” may not be able to be corrected by simple push ups or sit ups or a diet change. For some, you may see flaws in your external appearance that you believe need cosmetic attention. If you are one of those I just have to say that when you look in the mirror from now on you should praise God for the person staring back at you; realizing that the same God that created the beautiful deep blue ocean, the amazing sunsets and the majestic mountains also created you, his most prized possession. I know you are his prized possession because as it is recorded in the scriptures he died a horrific death on the cross just for you.
I truly believe that God made you according to his divine creativity on the outside so that you can focus more on developing your true beauty on the inside. Because in reality the outward appearance doesn’t matter to God anyway; because he very clearly stated in 1 Samuel 16:7: “But the LORD said to Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The LORD does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.”
As we prepare for the warm weather of the summer and the impending visits to the mirror in our summer wardrobe. Let us remember that God loves us just the way he made us and we do not need to seek any human being’s approval by the way we dress or the way we look. We should be living to impress an audience of one and our single, biggest fan is Jesus Christ, the redeemer of our souls. He can care less about my moobs or your big ears; he cares about the condition of our hearts and the way we live. Let us live in such a way that our inward beauty far surpasses our outward appearance.