[Medmoment] Who Buys Ugly Houses?

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Meditation Moment #88
Apr-15-2002
http://www.bbc-cortland.org/medmoment/

Visiting our sons in Florida, I was struck by a message on several billboards in the area. The message announced, "We Buy Ugly Houses." Given our culture's penchant for things physically beautiful, that announcement seemed out of place. I did not do any research on the company which posted the ad. I would guess, however, that it is their goal to secure unsightly properties and transform them into something desirable. Whether or not that is the case, I could not help but be arrested by the spiritual implications of the message.

Ugly houses? How that describes the condition of the human heart. It is our condition not because we are human but because we have turned the upkeep of our lives over to an uncaring landlord. Our Creator designed us to be individual displays of His architectural expertise. Made in the image of God, we were to favorably display His wisdom on the physical, intellectual and spiritual level of our daily lives. However, we succumbed to the wiles of a bogus real estate agent and have become progressively more ugly ever since.

Consider some of the features of our ugliness.

Of course, our first thoughts turn to the physical realm. However, let me first address the spiritual issue. Other than genetic aberrations which are part of living in an abnormal world, it is on the spiritual plane that all of the rest of the decline of beauty has its origin. Having bought Satan's offer of a false sense of independence, we have proceeded to treat our bodies and our minds as though they were our own possession. Thus we have set up for ourselves a maintenance agenda of our own making and to serve our own purposes. That is the thrust of the expression "we have turned everyone to his own way" in Isaiah 53:6. Once we understand that point we are able to see the uglification process at work.

In the case of physical beauty, no doubt there are some who would disagree with the thought that mankind has become ugly physically. It is true, if physical beauty stands alone, our era of history has possibly produced some of the most attractive people in history. However, physical beauty does not stand alone. In fact, in God's order it does not even play a primary role. For one thing, we have been given no authoritative statement to identify genuine physical beauty. Those who seek to achieve beauty on the physical realm are at the mercy of the latest popular whim. For another thing, physical beauty is not a satisfying thing. Some of those whom the world proclaims as beautiful testify to being desperately unfulfilled. Finally, physical beauty does not last. Someone has said, "Time heals all wounds, but it makes a lousy beautician." 

Biblically, God deals with the content of the human spirit more than the contours of the human package. Thus, in Scripture, physical beauty is designed to move the eyes beyond the beautiful object and rest them on the Creator (First Peter 3:3-4). In other words, God's intention was that our physical attractiveness was to turn our eyes and hearts toward Him in appreciation for His ability to make us so fearfully and wonderfully (Psalm 139:14). 

Having missed God's intention for physical beauty, mankind has proceeded to uglify his body in one or the other of two ways. One means of befouling the body has been through bizarre adornment. Here his creativity has been boundless, running from the cow-dung hairstyles of ancient Egypt to the stretched lips of some African peoples to the rampant body piercings of our own culture. On the other hand, there are those who take no regard for their bodies and allow them to become walking testimonies of carelessness and self indulgence. How Satan must laugh at the grotesque housings of God's image on any average American street.

But we have also uglified ourselves intellectually. Into our minds we have poured enough philosophical and erotic garbage to qualify us as rat-infested tenements. Professing ourselves to be wise in our own conceits we have become fools (Romans 1:22) and then we have gone about uglifying God by trying to adjust him to our corrupted image. Approached from that perspective, the expression "condemned already" in John 3:18 takes on new impact. Under the jurisdiction of a morally absentee landlord (Satan), we have turned ourselves into ugly slums destined for demolition.

Then comes Jesus. He is the rightful owner of our building. He is the One with the authority to order the demolition of the eyesore we have created. Yet, He has set Himself to the task of buying back ugly buildings. It is He who came to our neighborhood as one of us (Hebrews 2:14-15). It is He who went to Calvary for the express purpose of experiencing the demolition that we deserved (First Peter 2:24). It is He who, when we receive Him as Lord and Savior, can give purpose to our body (Ephesians 2:8-10). It is He, also, who gives His Holy Spirit to those who receive Christ so that a renovation process can begin from the inside (Colossians 3:1-17; Galatians 5:22-23). In time, when the frame in which we live is taken away, we will be given a new and lasting body (Philippians 3:21).

"We Buy Ugly Houses." What a claim! I admire people who can take a dilapidated building and make it into a work of art. But, much more, I adore the One who can take my shabby soul and make it into a work of grace. Have you let Him be the Lord of your life and the Savior of your soul? May we interact with you on these things?

Pastor Comings


Pastor Comings
pastor@bbc-cortland.org