“Most of us cringe when we have to show others our driver’s license photograph. We look either washed out from too much light, or shadowy and suspicious from too little. Our eyes look either goofy and wide-eyed, or droopy and sleepy-eyed. Our hair is hopelessly out of place. And our smile? ‘Good grief,’ we say to ourselves, ‘do I really smile like that?’
"Then there’s the opposite extreme—the studio portrait. … With the photographer’s magic …The right background highlights our colors. The most flattering angle emphasizes our strong points. The lighting soften our features. … The air brush can blow away any wrinkles or imperfections.”
Kent Crockett graduated from Texas A&M University and Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, and is the senior pastor of the Church of Living Water in Prattville, Alabama. He is the author of The 911 Handbook, Making Today Count for Eternity, and I Once Was Blind but Now I Squint, and has been published in a number of Christian magazines.
“As radically different as they are,” Crockett concludes, “the driver’s license photo and the studio portrait have one thing in come: neither is realistic. But if we want to be authentic people who impact others, it’s important that the portrait others see is real.”
In the end, only God sees our “real” selves. Yet it’s imperative that we strive to be authentic in all our relationships if we desire to have the "impact" and influence of which Crocket speaks.
"Nothing is covered up that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known" (Luke 12:12).
(NEWSER) – The DARE lion "Darin" is in some trouble. To be more exact, the upstate New York man who cops charged with stuffing him full of pot, cocaine, and LSD is in some trouble. Police say Gregory Bolognese, 22, was caught Monday at a Greyhound bus station in Plattsburgh with the drug-stuffed anti-drug mascot, the Smoking Gun reports, though it's not exactly clear how or why cops caught on to him. Darin comes dressed in a black T-shirt bearing the motto "DARE To Resist Drugs and Violence." Bolognese comes charged with possession of marijuana and a controlled substance.
How many of us hide behind the appearance of righteousness, hoping to throw others off the trail of their true selves?
It takes courage to step out from behind our pretenses, to live a transparent, humble and truthful life.
Come out from hiding--I DARE you!
"Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting" (Psalm 139:23-34).
Aptly described as a "cross between Britney Spears and Thor," Collette Nelson is a champion, female body builder. With bulging biceps, chiseled abs, thunderous thighs, and perfect pecs--all shimmering with contour enhancing oils and the orange glow of that notoriously fake, spray-on tan that has become the trademark of the sport--she is the epitome of the ideal female physique (at least in the world of female body building).
Even if you don't appreciate the aesthetics of her iron woman physique, you can certainly appreciate her commitment to ultimate fitness, right? I mean, what could be healthier or more ideal than a person pumped up to their prime?
Well, it seems that all is not as ideal as it appears.
"You're the most unhealthy the day of a show," says Collette. "You're dehydrated. You've eaten limited food. You've been over trained. You're taking some type of diuretic, whether it be natural or not. That day of the show, I've gotta tell you, you look like perfection, but inside you're just, you're barely hangin' on."
*Click the link to source above to view Ms. Nelson in full competitive form.
Isn't it true that we are our most unhealthy at those times when we're trying hardest to impress others? As Collette put it, "You're the most unhealthy the day of a show!"
Also, when we look to others for the approval we should be seeking from God, we become spiritually dehydrated and malnourished. We may look like perfection on the outside, but inside we're just barely hanging on.
"Watch out! Don't do your good deeds publicly, to be admired by others, for you will lose the reward from your Father in heaven" (Matthew 6:1, NLT).
"Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them" (John 7:37-38).