“Righteousness shall go before him; and shall set us in the way of his steps.” (Psalm 85:13)
Ugliness and beauty on a physical level can be deceiving. Behind the most strikingly beautiful face and form can be a horribly deformed and wicked soul. Underneath the homeliest appearance can be a kind and pure heart.
Of Jesus we read: “… He hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him” (Isa. 53:2). And, “… His visage was so marred more than any man, and his form more than the sons of men” (Isa. 52:14).
The glory of God was hidden in Christ. Jesus did not draw men to Himself because of His outward appearance. What then was attractive about Jesus? The way He walked. A behavioral beauty that revealed a heart of gold.
Jesus is the Shepherd who has gone before His sheep that we might follow in His footsteps. “He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked” (1 John 2:6). To be a true disciple of Christ is to reveal the very heart of God by the way you live your life.
The Master has gone before you. He has given you an example as to how you should live. And He has entered you to transform you so deeply that you become a truly beautiful person.
Oh the miracle of a changed life! One in which Christ has radically made us into a different person than we once were, and “set us in the way of his steps.”