UNBEAUTIFUL SAVIOR. Isaiah 53:2 says: "He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him." (NIV) This was written well before the appearance of Jesus as Savior. Yet, it tells us that his physical appearance would be ordinary. He would not be tall and handsome. He would look like an ordinary first century Jewish man. He was probably fairly short, dark, and plain.

God has a message to bring and a work to do. He did not want it confused with physical beauty. If Jesus had been beautiful, people would have followed him for that. A recent survey showed that most women went to see the movie "Troy" because they wanted to see Brad Pitt, not because they liked Greek literature.

The message is still beautiful. Grace should thrill your heart. Forgiveness should give you joy. Eternal life puts a lift in your step. But, we want to make the messenger beautiful. We want to dress up the church with cool music and technological gimmicks that will attract people.

If God was intent on placing the focus on his message and not his messenger's physical appearance, maybe we should do the same. Then at least we would know that when people joined us, it would be only because they believed the message, not because they enjoyed the show.