God’s Masterpiece

Does anyone else notice the theme? Tattoos, hair extensions, dreadlocks, false eyelashes, implants, piercings, cosmetic surgeries, nail art, skin treatments, teeth whitening.

Clue: all outside jobs.

Are they bad? Not necessarily. But when the spotlight keeps shining on the exterior, the interior is left in the shadows. And the inside is exactly what Christ emphasized.

I can’t recall Him saying, “Blessed are those with perfect eyebrows and salon-quality hair.” Instead, His Sermon on the Mount painted a radically different beauty list:

• Poor in spirit
• Meek
• Merciful
• Pure in heart

I wish I could order those off the salon menu. “Yes, I’ll take a full set of mercy with a touch-up of meekness, please.”

The Fleeting Glory of the Flesh

I once heard a preacher from Costa Rica confront a mountain of a man at the mall—bronzed, ripped, Schwarzenegger-sized, hocking supplements. The preacher looked him up and down and said in broken English:

“One day… you will make a tremendous meal for the worms.”

I nearly choked. The man looked like someone had just dropped a 300-pound barbell on his toe. But you know what? The preacher wasn’t wrong. Muscles, tans, and jawlines are all on loan. Truth has a way of breaking through the American herd of outward values like a spotlight through fog.

That jolting line made me laugh, but it also made me think. Illusions get shattered with blunt honesty—but closer to home, I discovered I’d been buying into some of the same illusions myself.

My Error

For years, I only complimented my wife’s looks. Nothing wrong with that—she is beautiful. But beauty, like muscles, changes with time. And when all my admiration aimed at her outward appearance, I was missing the best parts.

Joyce, your sincerity still disarms me. Your responsiveness makes me feel like the luckiest man alive. Your trustworthiness liberates me to soar without fear. And unlike hair color or wrinkle cream, these qualities never fade with age. In fact, they only deepen.

I finally realized: if I only praised Joyce’s looks, I was basically leaving myself speechless for the rest of our lives.

The Biggest Challenge

Here’s the world’s great mistake: polishing the exterior while neglecting the interior. Selfishness, laziness, and pride hide just fine behind Botox and veneers. No facelift can remove a hard heart.

How Outward Emphasis Undermines the Truth

Scripture slices through the charade:

“The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”
—1 Samuel 16:7

That’s the truth.

And God’s plan is clear: “For those God foreknew He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son.” (Romans 8:29)

It’s not about airbrushing the frame— it’s about shaping the canvas.

Our Hope

We are God’s artwork in progress. Outward things are just the frame. The masterpiece is the Christlike character He is painting stroke by stroke onto the canvas of our lives.

Salons can handle hair, nails, and skin. But only the divine Artist can shape mercy, purity, and love into the soul. And that masterpiece never fades, never wrinkles, never needs a touch-up.

That’s the truth that sets us free.