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Cal's Pastoral Epistles
"God's Love Shines Right Through Us"
December 2, 2009
A few weeks ago I watched the movie, Shallow Hal. The movie stars Jack
Black and Jason Alexander. They play a couple of obnoxious bachelors who
are obsessed with the idea of having a beautiful woman at their side. During
the course of the movie Hal, Jack Black, learns that it is the inner beauty
that defines a person, not the external appearance.
After a chance encounter with guest star, Tony Robbins, Shallow Hal
begins to see the world differently. He falls in love with a woman who is
kind, compassionate and wonderful in every way. She is the woman of his
dreams. This sets the stage for some very funny moments because Hal only
sees the inner beauty of his girlfriend. His best friend and the rest of the
world sees the external wrapping which is not very attractive and quite
obese.
Tony Robbins shows up again and tries to convince Black's buddy that
most people are confused by intensive advertising campaigns that promote
outer beauty at every opportunity. As a result, Robbins says, we have all
become very shallow and miss out on what is inside of us and most
important in building relationships.
It struck me that we do the same thing in the church as well. We judge
people by what we see and never look beyond that to the heart. I thought of
what the Bible says about King David. It says he had a heart for God. We all
know that David was a murderer, an adulterer, and an imperfect man. Yet
God looked beyond that and saw a person worth redeeming, a person with
the heart that was pure.
That's good news for the rest of us and it is the message of Christmas.
The apostle Paul says that while we were yet sinners (imperfect people)
God sent his son into the world. The babe of Bethlehem is a sign that God
loves us and that he has looked beyond our flawed humanity to see the inner
beauty that he created within us.
It also comes as a call for us to do the same thing with the people we
meet. As Christians we have been called to be bearers of that same grace to
the world around us. Maybe this is a good time to spread that joy to all you
meet. Let's make this Christmas a little different and share the grace and
peace of our Lord with all we encounter along our journey to Bethlehem this
year.
God Bless. See You In Church. Cal
December 2, 2009
A few weeks ago I watched the movie, Shallow Hal. The movie stars Jack
Black and Jason Alexander. They play a couple of obnoxious bachelors who
are obsessed with the idea of having a beautiful woman at their side. During
the course of the movie Hal, Jack Black, learns that it is the inner beauty
that defines a person, not the external appearance.
After a chance encounter with guest star, Tony Robbins, Shallow Hal
begins to see the world differently. He falls in love with a woman who is
kind, compassionate and wonderful in every way. She is the woman of his
dreams. This sets the stage for some very funny moments because Hal only
sees the inner beauty of his girlfriend. His best friend and the rest of the
world sees the external wrapping which is not very attractive and quite
obese.
Tony Robbins shows up again and tries to convince Black's buddy that
most people are confused by intensive advertising campaigns that promote
outer beauty at every opportunity. As a result, Robbins says, we have all
become very shallow and miss out on what is inside of us and most
important in building relationships.
It struck me that we do the same thing in the church as well. We judge
people by what we see and never look beyond that to the heart. I thought of
what the Bible says about King David. It says he had a heart for God. We all
know that David was a murderer, an adulterer, and an imperfect man. Yet
God looked beyond that and saw a person worth redeeming, a person with
the heart that was pure.
That's good news for the rest of us and it is the message of Christmas.
The apostle Paul says that while we were yet sinners (imperfect people)
God sent his son into the world. The babe of Bethlehem is a sign that God
loves us and that he has looked beyond our flawed humanity to see the inner
beauty that he created within us.
It also comes as a call for us to do the same thing with the people we
meet. As Christians we have been called to be bearers of that same grace to
the world around us. Maybe this is a good time to spread that joy to all you
meet. Let's make this Christmas a little different and share the grace and
peace of our Lord with all we encounter along our journey to Bethlehem this
year.
God Bless. See You In Church. Cal
Pastor Cal Lord writes these weekly epistles to
help us see God in every day things.
help us see God in every day things.
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