It was my granddaughter’s prom night. Her dad texted pictures – beautiful young women in gorgeous long dresses, escorted by handsome young men in tuxes. It’s said that “A picture is worth a thousand words.” The prom pictures were proof of that. Words could not convey the sparkle in her eyes, the delight that beamed from the photos. I got a warm glow just looking at how happy she was.

Sometimes I just wish we had photos of our Lord Jesus. I think of His ride into Jerusalem. Crowds gathered to watch, but they waved palm branches. Not one held out a cell phone to capture the moment.

Artists have given us many different interpretations of Jesus’ appearance. Often the image reflects that of the painter and the people of his time and place. The paintings are beautiful, even inspiring, but probably not authentic. We do know that Jesus was a Jew, so He likely had dark skin, dark eyes and dark hair – and that’s about all we know.

The disciples spent three years with Jesus. They knew Him the best. Surely they could have described His physical appearance. None of them did. Perhaps it just didn’t seem important. They wrote of His actions, His words, His feelings – but not what He looked like. Actually, they did give us a beautiful portrait of His love, kindness and compassion.

Just suppose the apostles were writing about us? If they wrote of our actions, our words, and our compassion – how would we look? Fortunately for us God loves us, flaws and all. His love is unconditional, and He gives it freely to me and to you!

Judy, originally posted in July 2018