Outer Appearance

Many today are so concerned about their outer appearance, what they look like, how they dress, the kind of makeup they wear and so on.  Women seem to be more concerned than men about their appearance and spend much more time than men on their outer appearance, of course there are exceptions.  I am not saying that we shouldn’t be aware of our outer appearance because it is important, but in everything there needs to be a balance.

This morning I heard about something that many people are into, and like to have all year long, and that is a tan.  In some climates people are tanned most of the year, but in your northern climates people lose a lot of their tan over the winter months.  As a result tanning booths are getting very popular and much more dangerous to use.  The reason I say this is because people are doing what is known as binge tanning.  I have known about tanning booths for a long time but not about binge tanning, both are very dangerous, but the more exposure you get in these tanning booths the worse it is for you and the more susceptible you become to melanoma, a deadly skin cancer.  

Years ago I had a brother-in-law die of this kind of cancer but it wasn’t caused by using a tanning booth, as far as I know, it was from the sun which can be very dangerous also.  I realize that many of us cannot avoid the sun’s exposure, but we can control how much exposure we get at times.  I am not writing this to scare anyone, it is to make people aware of the danger, just like too much food consumed can cause you to be a glutton and can also cause serious physical problems.  What about alcohol consumption?  It can cause you to become an alcoholic and cause physical problems also.  All these things and many others can enslave you.

I think many of us need to learn moderation and balance in how much we expose ourselves to.  This scripture comes to mind in 1 Corinthians 6:12, “All things are lawful for me, but all things are not helpful. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any.”  

You may say that this verse has nothing to do with this subject, but if you think about it, a believer’s body is the temple of the Holy Spirit and it has been bought with a price which caused Jesus to suffer and die so that He could buy our pardon by His shed blood.  So our body is not our own and we have a responsibility of how we take care of it.  All things may be permissible, but all things are not good and too much of anything can be habit forming and even harmful at times.  

Let me be clear about this, when I am talking about moderation in all things I am not talking about sin in any form.  All sin is prohibited for a believer, period, so don’t think this is teaching that you can dabble in it in any way.    

Like I said, outward appearance is important, but is not nearly as important as being changed on the inside.  This is something we need help with and only the Lord can do it.  This can only happen when we are born-again through faith in Jesus Christ.  The Word says this in Ephesians 2:8-9, “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.”  

There is only one way to be born-again and that is through Jesus, the author and finisher of the faith.  God’s Word says this in Acts 4:10-12, “let it be known to you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, by Him this man stands here before you whole. This is the ‘stone which was rejected by you builders, which has become the chief cornerstone.’ Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”

When all of us deserved hell, Jesus died for us so we could receive forgiveness for our sins.  I just heard a testimony from Bobby Bowers.  This man sold his soul to the evil one when he was 14 years old and lived a horrid life, which should have killed him, but there was a time in his life when he came to the end of his rope, so to speak.  In the end, God’s love prevailed in his life and now he has a relationship that he would not have thought could exist and he was changed on the inside.  This can happen to you also, if you feel the Holy Spirit’s conviction today, respond with repentance and ask the Lord to come into your heart and life and don’t be in a hurry, wait on the Lord and let Him touch your heart and change you from the inside out.  When this happens you will never be the same.  God bless you and have a super day!!