Thoughts from Mark "Hat" Rackley

Like a coating of silver dross on earthenware
    are fervent lips with an evil heart.
Enemies disguise themselves with their lips,
    but in their hearts they harbor deceit.
Though their speech is charming, do not believe them,
    for seven abominations fill their hearts.
Their malice may be concealed by deception,
    but their wickedness will be exposed in the assembly.

• Proverbs 26:23-26

In all Israel there was not a man so highly praised for his handsome appearance as Absalom.  From the top of his head to the sole of his foot there was no blemish in him.  Whenever he cut the hair of his head — he used to cut his hair once a year because it became too heavy for him — he would weigh it, and its weight was two hundred shekels by the royal standard.

• 2 Samuel 14:25-26

“Every head turned toward the door when she walked in.  She was breathtaking.  Her hair was long and beautiful.  Her face had fine, gentle features, and she was tall and slender.  She moved with a quiet grace, and she knew all the right moves.  Many people gravitated toward her, and she basked in the attention.  One young man walked up to her and tried to engage her in a conversation.  She took one look at him and began laughing.
“’Go away, you worm.  I don’t want to even be seen talking to you!’
“Throughout the evening, she repeatedly dealt with people with equal measures of contempt.  Her gorgeous exterior merely covered an evil and corrupt interior, blinded with self-love and conceit.
“We can take garbage and dress it up on a silver platter, but when we are finished, it is still garbage.  What is on the outside matters very little.  It is what is on the inside which is more important.  God created each of us with a spirit, which is in His image.  Looks, dress, and actions have little to do with who we are.  It is what is in our hearts, which matters most.  Wickedness can be masked, but God will see right through the facade.  The pure in heart and right-minded are a joy to God, and it doesn’t matter one bit what those people look like on the outside.”

• Dan & Nancy Dick, Daily Wisdom from the Bible

My wife always wanted to be beautiful, but every time she got a compliment it was “cute.”  She hated “cute,” she would take any number of other compliments, just not “cute.”  It’s odd, however, that I thought she was exotic when I first met her, someone that I wanted to know better.  Then the telephone calls started, and the one physical attribute that I thought was her best quality was her voice.  She had, and still has when the COPD cooperates, a beautiful voice.

I had dated a couple of lovely young girls.  One, whose older sister had been a Miss Mississippi runner-up, became bored with me and rejected me.  The other had an ex-boyfriend who put the word out that anyone trying to date her would be found in a shallow grave, if found at all.  I was crazy enough to date her twice.  She got so nervous that she suggested that there not be a third date.  Of course, the reason for him being an ex-boyfriend was his temper.  I became tired of the girls who thought they were beautiful.

I found a woman who talked about not wanting to be “cute,” but was lovely on the inside and the outside.

When we only look skin deep, we never see the beauty within.

I guess I was in a Hank Williams mood when I chose the title, Hey Good Lookin’.

The woman who knew she was beautiful in the devotion probably needed to have her Cold Cold Heart melted, but the lyrics did not work too well with the theme.  Maybe because I Saw the Light.

Yes, God chooses His own, those who will love Him and seek Him.  Those that see the Light. He elects those who will believe and trust in Jesus, who are saved by faith alone.  God then washes our sin away, and our sin is what makes our inside ugly.

With Jesus in our hearts, we can all be beautiful on the inside.

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory.