0:00:00 - 0:00:31 All right, I'm gonna make a little video here. I'm in a hurry. I've got a lot to do. But um I want to share this thought, Isaiah 53 2 speaks about the Lord and how there was nothing attractive about him in his mortal life. Now, um That's not just or I would say even primarily a comment about his physical 0:00:31 - 0:01:00 appearance. And as is the case with most things that seem simple, sometimes the simplest seeming things are intricately connected to the deepest, most mysterious and unknown things. And uh if time permitted, we could go into a deep dive about what Jesus looked like during his mortal life and why? That's 0:00:59 - 0:01:26 very important. It's probably something you've never thought about. Um But it's really important, long story short. He looked like his father and um another long story short and, and this isn't an adequate replacement of the full measure of things that need to be said about this. But um his mission in 0:01:26 - 0:01:57 life was to demonstrate the father and he did that in character. He did that in word indeed. So his personality, but uh also in his form, he actually looked like the father and that's very important, but we're gonna focus on a very specific part of that importance. So his attractiveness, it's interesting 0:01:57 - 0:02:22 . He wasn't regarded as attractive in any way. I think most people believe that if they were to see the father or the son or even an angel that they'd be struck by the beauty. But specifically in Isaiah 53 2, it says that there is no beauty in his appearance that was recognizable by the people. It turns 0:02:22 - 0:02:56 out that beauty just like goodness, truth, utility and all things that are from and fulfilled in God. All of those things occur in a hierarchy and part of the purpose, a principal purpose of our lives is to ascend in our ability to accurately perceive and value those things. So Jesus was repulsive to 0:02:56 - 0:03:26 normal people. He was repulsive in the way he looked and especially in the way he acted, normal people hated him and they hated him proportional to how well they knew him. So think about this, the Son of God sent to demonstrate the father and the more a normal person got to know him, the more they would 0:03:26 - 0:03:54 hate him. He said to the people. He said, I know what you, how you feel about my father because I see how you react to me. And that's the the source of how he so authoritatively called them Children of the devil. Now, that's all really important for a million different reasons. But I want to tie this 0:03:53 - 0:04:23 to something which is your beauty, your outward beauty and your inward beauty. And I don't know yet, but I might call this video the blessing of being ugly. It's like uh the sequel to the importance of being earnest, the blessing of being ugly. So what I believe that uh this principle has specific applications 0:04:22 - 0:04:44 that differ between men and women. But I'm not sure if I'm gonna go there in, in this video, we'll just see how it goes. Um The more attractive you are as a young person, physically speaking, the more attention you will get. And there's something called pretty privilege. And it's a real thing. It's been 0:04:44 - 0:05:11 studied. Uh people who are attractive observers will impute to them, higher intelligence and capability. They will, it, it's also called the halo effect. They will um they will actually uh ex not just expect but somehow twist their perception of reality to see that attractive people perform better and 0:05:11 - 0:05:35 are better at things that have nothing to do with physical appearance. So this is um well, again, there's a lot that could be said about this. But one thing that happens because of this is that physical attractiveness removes the impetus, it largely removes the impetus for self improvement, at least 0:05:35 - 0:05:57 as far as external stimuli are concerned. So ugly people, they kind of have to work to make their way in life a lot more than attractive people do. They're not going to get a pass for mistakes that they make as easily as attractive people do. They're not gonna get hired as easily as attractive people 0:05:57 - 0:06:24 do. They're not gonna get promoted as easily as attractive people do. They're not going to get accepted on um, requests for dates and they're not going to be asked out on dates as easily as attractive people are and on and on and on. So with all of this uglier people have much more frequent and intense 0:06:23 - 0:06:57 reasons given to them to actually become good in terms of their character. And um over a lifetime, this makes it much more likely that uglier people will develop into much better people than those who were attractive when they were young. Now, here's where we start coming in hot and throwing out the 0:06:57 - 0:07:25 things, spit in truth that that's gonna offend people, but it needs to be said, uh the benefit for saying it outweighs the offense from saying it. There isn't any person who retains their youth, their youthful attractiveness as they get old. Now all the what abouts are going to come saying things like 0:07:25 - 0:07:47 , what about this person? What about that person? What about, what about, what about there are people that take a couple of extra years to get ugly but everyone eventually gets ugly if they live long enough, it's gonna happen. So um the good news is is that those who were born a little uglier. Uh It's 0:07:46 - 0:08:05 like it's like Bain says in Batman, um, he was born in the darkness and Batman merely adopted it. And he's like, therefore I've got this mastered, I've been doing this my whole life. So Batman's trick is to turn off the lights. And Bain's like, yeah, well, I'm used to that. I grew up in that. And so 0:08:05 - 0:08:30 for the ugly people, when they get old and ugly, the only difference is they're older, but for pretty people, it's catastrophic. And you see this because the, the physical attractiveness is a lot like sand in an hourglass and everyone's given a different amount, but it runs out on everyone and it runs 0:08:29 - 0:08:52 out at a different speed for everyone different pace and, and in the life of a person, it's almost always the case that this is not a consistent transition. It, it tends to happen slower or faster, different points in life. Um So the, the point is, is as it happens, the greater the change, the more severely 0:08:52 - 0:00:00 it affects a person you hear folks complain about, uh, and it's mostly women. Um, you hear them complain about feeling like they're invisible as they get older. And it's true again, studies have been conducted. Um, it's, it's amazing how invisible ugly people are. But the, the thing about it is, um, 0:00:00 - 0:09:41 those who are born that way are used to it and they understand that they're, they will be judged by the character which they can affect. Not just by their looks, which they can only minimally affect. Now, if you weigh £300 there's a path to weigh less. Um, if you look like a pig pen from Charlie Brown 0:09:41 - 0:10:03 , from peanuts, you can take a shower. Um, says the guy in a tank top right before he works out. Um, you know, there are things you can do to your hair. There are things you can do with makeup if, if you're a lady and on and on and on, but there's only so much you can do. And then after that, everything 0:10:02 - 0:10:29 that remains, that can be done is about your character. So, um what's important to understand is that um wherever you start on the physical looks that is going to degrade over time, it's absolutely gonna happen. But the other important thing to understand is that the, the other component of beauty, which 0:10:29 - 0:10:54 is your character that's fully within your control and it will endure forever. So, while you're in the game, you can become better at the game and then when the whistle blows and the game's over, that's how you're gonna be. So knowing that, knowing that how do you play the game the best? Well, the best 0:10:54 - 0:11:23 strategy is to use both components of beauty to the greatest benefit. So if you happen to be a person who's attractive, you should use that for all the right reasons, which is to say, um you should, you should use it to attract the spouse that will lead to the greatest benefit. And I'm saying that in 0:11:23 - 0:11:48 a gender neutral way, uh what benefits will be different depending on if you're a woman or a man. But I've said enough about that perhaps in other videos and as you maximally leverage what you're blessed with as far as beauty goes, which includes the things I mentioned before uh and things like that 0:11:48 - 0:12:14 , that you do control at least somewhat as you maximize that. You should also realize that all of that is temporary. It's like a tadpole's tail. The whole purpose is how it can be transformed into the thing that endures. In this case, the frog, you know, tale, the tail is food and it, it uh helps the 0:12:13 - 0:12:36 , the tadpole turned into a frog. In this case, the frog is a person's character. It's um it's how strong they are in the face of challenges. It's their emotional self control, it's their wisdom, it's their courage, it's their, all of these other things that matter. It's their love, their willingness 0:12:35 - 0:13:01 to suffer for the benefit of other people. And so that's the purpose of it is to as it runs out, hopefully you've invested it well. And then when the whistle blows in this case, not by death, not through death, but through your getting old and ugly, you have something to show for it. And that's uh that's 0:13:00 - 0:13:24 a lesson. There are many lessons I have conversations with uh, a friend who's big into gardening and animal husbandry and things. And there's so many lessons out in the garden or out in the barn. And one of them is that the beauty of youth is for purpose. So I could show you over on the other side of 0:13:24 - 0:13:44 my garden. I could show you what lettuce looks like after it's gone through its youthful phase, you wouldn't even recognize, it looks like a patch of weeds. Um, there's nothing about it that resembles lettuce. And if you taste the leaves, which don't look like the leaves used to, they're actually bitter 0:13:43 - 0:14:07 , they're super bitter. They're more bitter than a weed would be. Most weeds taste better than that. And there's a message in that so to tie this all up so I can move on with my day. We live in a world where the beauty scale is just totally, totally distorted for a variety of reasons that I don't need 0:14:07 - 0:14:36 to go into right now. However, and by the way, it's, it's, it's always been distorted, like, like we started with, with Jesus Isaiah 53 2. However, there is real value and beauty. Um, but the most important component of that quality is not the way you look through things you can't control. It's through 0:14:36 - 0:15:02 what you do with what you're given, particularly on the inside and how you use that radiating out as the physical beauty fades. It's meant to be overtaken, not just replaced overtaken by something much more beautiful and much more enduring. But hardly anyone uses it for that purpose in a perfect world 0:15:02 - 0:15:28 with perfect people. Everyone would be born being the epitome of physically attractive. Well, not born. I mean, that'd be super weird, but as they hit adulthood, they, they develop into the epitome of physical attractiveness and they would maximally use that they would, they would both give and receive 0:15:27 - 0:15:52 that to the greatest possible appreciation. Typically, beauty is inversely appreciated. Um Meaning that the young doofuses, whether they be men, male doofuses or, or female doofuses, the young doofuses don't really appreciate what they've, what they give or receive. But anyway, in a, in a perfect world 0:15:52 - 0:16:22 of perfect people, they would perfectly use that physical beauty to um both appreciate it in the moment. But also more importantly to encounter and maximize the enduring character beauty that humans are capable of developing. And if you find yourself with less than perfect physical beauty, it's actually 0:16:21 - 0:16:48 a tremendous blessing given the fact that so few people respond in that way, in that ideal way to the blessing of physical beauty, either in giving it or receiving it. It's hardly ever used wisely. So, um there you go. I don't know if that cheers you up, but hopefully it does probably doesn't if you 0:16:48 - 0:17:15 regard yourself as an attractive person. But, oh, well, and uh for those who are on the uglier side of the spectrum, it's actually it's a huge blessing. So, um, yeah, on a practical note, just imagine if, if you, um, if you're super, super attractive in your older teenage years, odds are you've had massive 0:17:15 - 0:00:00 attention from the opposite sex and you've probably done some really bad things that have permanently reduced your character value. Um, again, that's a super offensive thing to a lot of people that those two things are connected but they are. So, um, if you're ugly enough that no one has chased you, 0:00:00 - 0:18:00 then, hey. Right. You still have that to offer even if you weren't mature enough to willingly preserve it. Uh, over that time and again, that, that's a completely gender neuter, neuter comment, um that applies to both sides. So, yep, that's what I got to say about that for now.