The Cross is an Obstacle to Pride
Dress for Success – Part 1

Scripture Reading:  Isaiah 53:1-5

Key Verse: Isaiah 53:2b

He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.

“Dress for Success” is a phrase that has been used by our society for many years.  The obvious idea is that there is a certain way we can dress to appeal to employers; to get noticed for promotions and climb the ladder to success!

If we are not careful, we Christ followers can let a little of that thinking slip into our journey with God.  Prideful ways develop when we start thinking that we need to be noticed or “promoted” in the eyes of the church.  The Prophet Isaiah, under divine inspiration, wrote of Jesus, describing His appearance to the world.  Through the eyes of revelation, Isaiah reminds us that Jesus had not beauty or majesty to attract us to Him; nothing in His appearance that we should desire Him.  In fact, Isaiah writes, Jesus would be despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, familiar with suffering.

This “attraction by appearance” is another aspect in which the kingdom of God is polar opposite of the kingdom of this world.  Don’t fall into the world view of how to win people to Jesus Christ.  The only appeal we have to offer is the inner transformation that comes by faith in this “man of sorrows”!  Joining God’s family doesn’t make us look better; it only makes us “be” better.

Father, guard my mind from the worldly influences that draw me into their values.  I want to think like you and look like you in my lifestyle.  In Jesus’ name, amen.