All in the Name of Beauty

Matthew 23:28 – “In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous, but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness.”
I remember couple of years ago from the stretch of Buendia Avenue to Edsa fronting Megamall, snatchers were looming around on board a bus in their business attire looking for victims. One day on my way to work, I witnessed a lady who lost her purse for she thought the man in business attire beside her was trustworthy.

In New York back in 1999, on board a bus was a black man in his very modest attire offered his bus card to my friend and I, since we were both scrambling for dimes in our pockets. The bus could not leave without us dropping some coins or swiping a bus card near the driver’s seat. We were not very familiar with our US coins then. All we knew were our own peso: dalawang piso, limang piso, viente singko, diez at singko..

When I visited Brazil last year, locals were all beautiful looking. I felt their inner beauties. Hence, everything they do and how they look reflects upon what is in their heart.

What is the realization here? God does not focus on our external appearance.

1 Samuel 16:7 – “The Lord does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”

What is the bottomline then? We need to keep our appearance in perspective. We need to balance what our society dictates us how to look and what not to have. h

*published in Rotary Club of Rizal West Bulletin, 16 Apr 2009