Hot Jesus

When I worked at the Christian bookstore I did a lot of work in the shipping and receiving area. Which means I unpacked all the new books, pictures, and gift items from the boxes and entered them into the computer. Well, when this bad boy came in I immediately dubbed him "Hot Jesus." I mean, just look at this picture. If this were hanging in your house would you tend to think holy thoughts? Didn't think so. My boss and I had a hay day with this. I would call him and tell him that "a Hot Jesus sold today!" He actually gave me this picture as a gift with the word "Hot" printed across the front to hang in my office. I never did hang it up lest my interviewee's think I had some deep seeded issues.


This still totally cracks me up. What actually made me think of it was when I was reading Isaiah 53 the other day. It's talking about what Jesus looked like when he was on earth, "He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not." Okay, the one thing I can definitely say from reading this passage is that Jesus was not hot.


Actually, I kinda had a hard time wrapping my mind around this for a while. The one perfect man who ever walked the face of this earth was not good looking at all. Does this make any sense? When I think of a perfect man, I admit the first thing I'm thinking is 6 pack abs. How has society so skewed my view of perfection that I can't even imagine Jesus really being perfect if he wasn't attractive physically?


I think it's safe to say that this is the Lord telling us that perfection has absolutely nothing to do with outward beauty. Hmmm....society and media tell us the exact opposite. Outward beauty is everything in this day and age. Beautiful people get better jobs, they sell us things on TV, they have more fun. They have no body fat, no wrinkles, no morals. They live a perfect life so it seems. I find myself buying into this lie a lot. If I just had her body or her clothes or her confidence my life would be so much easier.


As I continue to grow in this faith I am finding myself more attracted to those who strive for soul perfection though. People that love the Lord above all else just seem radiant to me. You see a different, more permanent joy on their faces. They are a different kind of beautiful. Many of us can probably picture a person like this that we know. A person you could care less what they look like on the outside because being near them is almost like you're getting nearer to God. You crave their presence hoping some of their wisdom will rub off on you. I want to be one of these people someday. I also wouldn't mind aging as well as Heather Locklear though....