Spiked hair.
Tan in a can.
Push-ups.
Puffy North Face vest.
Adidas shoes.
There was a time in my life where looking good and being cool was a tip-top priority. It consumed my mind and my motives. I had an overriding and constant concern, “What will they think of me? Will they like me?”
And then I successfully won over the girl of my dreams. I got married. Since then, I’ve had no really good reason to dress to impress. In fact, sometimes I’ll hear the age-old question, “Are you wearing that?” Despite winning my girl over, she refuses to let me embarrass myself in front of others. Valid point.
And with three kids, you really don’t have enough time to iron your shirt, floss your teeth, apply deodorant, double-check your fly, or remember that wearing sweat pants in public is a faux pas. To quote the infamous Sweet Brown, “Nobody got time for that!”
The defining moment was when we bought a minivan. I always pictured myself as one of those cool Dad’s rolling up to the carpool line in an Explorer or Cherokee. I swore off the minivan and thought I would never go that far. I would never give up that much pride and manliness.
But it’s amazing what you’ll do for sanity. It’s amazing what you’ll do for your wife. Remember, a happy wife is a happy life. We’re officially a year and a half into owning a black Honda Odyssey. And it may be one of the best decisions we’ve ever made.
While it may be the opposite of “cool” and far, far removed from a puffy North Face vest, it may be the epitome of practical. Automatic sliding doors, gas mileage, and plenty of space for not only kids but all the stuff of kids. It’s just plain awesome. And to all those SUV people out there still holding onto “cool”, don’t knock it ‘til you rock it.
I wonder if Jesus would have driven a minivan. Now hear me out. Scriptures say “He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him…and like one from whom men hide their face He was despised, and we did not esteem Him” (Isa. 53:2,3).
I don’t think Jesus spent a lot of time in front of the mirror. I don’t think he ever asked a disciple, “Are you wearing that?”
Scriptures also say, “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 Sam. 16:7).
Now, we should definitely look professional and well kept and present ourselves well to other people. We don’t want our sloppy looks to turn others away. But it’s a matter of the heart isn’t it? What if we spent more time investing in the state of our hearts than the state of our looks? What if we focused more on our spiritual figure than our physical figure, our internal rather than our external?
What if we thought less about how we look to others and more about how we look to God? Let’s face it, His opinion is really the only one that matters. And He calls us the apple of His eye, His beloved, and His children. This is who we are.
Whether you drive a minivan or an SUV, the point is this: Jesus wants us to be driven by His love. He wants to take the wheel of our lives. He wants to steer our direction. He wants to be the engine that drives us. He wants our hearts.
So let’s give up the exhausting, never-ending game of comparison and what’s cool and what’s not. And let’s give in to the beautiful, majestic, and forever coollove of Jesus.