Chaplain's Chat

Dreana, Anthony & Matt

Character vs Looks

By Dreana Beitzel

In the message at church on Sunday, Matt Destry, our pastor at Discovery church talked about spiritual fruit and gifts.  I am still pondering some of his points as they were so good.  I thought I’d pass a few on to you.

He highlighted how important it was to attend to the development of our character.  Why is it so important?  Because it’s the part of us that will last.  This is what takes us into a relationship with Jesus, and eventually to eternal life.  We should all be putting lots of time, energy, and money into this area of who we are.  But are we?

Our culture is playing another, almost competing tune, in the area of physical perfection.  Recently someone told me that a cosmetic surgeon is getting lots of requests from young people who want surgery so that they look like their Instagram photo.  Apparently Instagram enhances a person’s appearance.  Faces are more symmetrical and ‘appealing’.

We spend hours, money, and energy trying to enhance and maintain our appearance on the outside. But (as grim as it sounds) this is a losing battle.  The reality is we’re all in the process of decaying.  Our culture focuses on the need to to look good, and it’s hard not to get caught up in this frenzy.

We need to remind ourselves that we’re here for a limited time.  While our bodies are wasting away we’re being renewed inwardly.  We’re being changed from glory to glory.  As Matt so wisely said on Sunday, as we go through life, the older we get, we’re supposed to be less selfish, more loving, more generous.  Why?  Because this is the part of us that will live on…...