You.

When God created man, he made them in the likeness of God. Genesis five, verse one have you ever thumbed through your old high school yearbooks? After looking through mine, I'm led to believe that some of my friends need to apologize to their high school sweethearts for being so not attractive. At first I thought it might just be a bad photo, but then I had to ask myself why there are so many of them, and year after year then it struck me. Those guys I'm picking on probably think the same thing when they see my old high school photos. We humans are a strange bunch. We are all a bit vain when it comes to our physical appearance. I know men and women who won't go to the gym because they say they don't look good enough to go, or that they aren't in good enough shape to go. I also know people who won't attend their high school reunions because they don't want their former classmates to see how they look 20 years or more after graduation. We put a great deal of emphasis on our outward appearance, and sadly, we have allowed Hollywood to shape our image of what we ought to look like in order to be attractive and successful. Our size, looks and shape matter, but if truth be told, they matter more to us than they do to others we encounter. This isn't to say that we shouldn't do our best to be fit and healthy, but an undue amount of emphasis on our outward appearance can have a devastating effect on our selfimage and more important, the measure of our own self worth. Eating disorders, especially among young women, have reached epidemic proportion today. But it's not just women who are negatively affected by all the hype about physical appearance. Men are literally killing themselves by overdoing it at a gym in hopes of getting a six pack of abs and impressive biceps. We need to remember that each of us is created in the image of God. God likes variety, which is why we don't all look exactly the same. More important, it is not just our external makeup that makes us who we are. So it's not just what's on the outside that matters, but what's on the inside as well. Man looks at the outside, but God looks at what's inside, at our hearts. So we should work every bit as hard on building up our character as we do building muscles and losing weight. Proverbs 31 30 puts it this way. Charm is deceitful and beauty is fleeting. But a woman or a man who fears the Lord is to be praised.

This has been your thought for the day with Steve Burkham, pastor of Community Christian Church in Stockton, California. If you have questions or comments for Pastor Steve, please send them to [email protected]. Have a great day, and we hope you'll join us tomorrow as Pastor Steve opens God's word to bring us another thought for the day.