Let’s do a little imagination exercise shall we? Imagine this: what would it be like if we were all shapeless, formless little fuzz balls? I know it sounds funny but bear with me, there is a point :)  Let’s say that we all had our own voices, spirits, souls, personalities, etc as we do now so we were still individuals (not clones). But what if we did not have bodies? What if we all looked exactly the same, just little fuzz balls, all the same size, color and shape and since we had no need for clothing we didn’t wear any?

Let’s just say that we lived in a world like this, where we all related to each other on the basis of who we were inside, what we said, our actions, etc and simply had no grid by which to judge outward appearances.

Then, let’s say quite suddenly after we had lived like this for, oh, maybe 20 years we all lost our little fuzz ball forms and were given human bodies of varying shapes and sizes. Suddenly we all looked different. We had different hair styles, straight or crooked teeth, thin or fat bodies, were short or tall and were clothed in garments purchased from Walmart or The Buckle or Banana Republic.

Suddenly, instead of actually needing to take the effort to know who someone was you had the ability to make a nano second evaluation on who they were based upon their appearance. Do you think your friendships would change?

What if you discovered that your best friend of 20 years actually had a body that was less than perfect and in your opinion needed a trip to the mall?

The culture of the reality you had known for all of your life did an about face and reverted to telling you to form friendships, marriages and associations on the basis of outward looks. In this new culture, over time, you and all those you knew began to form connections with individuals based upon what their clothing tags said, how much time they spent at the gym, how much makeup they wore and the taper of their pant legs.

Without realizing it true identity became something of the past. Identity, instead of being based upon what was in the heart and mind transformed, partially, into what brand name you wore, how much chub you had on your body and what phone you had in your pocket. First impressions and clichés were now primarily formed upon what you put on your body instead of who you truly were.

It’s funny but it does not take much imagination to envision a culture like this, maybe it’s because we’ve been living in it all of our lives.

Think about it. We’ve all been guilty of judging others by their outward appearance sometimes (and I’m including myself here!). Now, I am not endorsing human cloning and I recognize the Biblical fact that the Lord created us with bodies. Jesus himself even came to earth in a human body. It is true, the Lord created us with a body, a soul and a spirit.

However, unless I have my math wrong we all have three parts; body, soul and spirit and the body is only  a mere one third of who we are. Then take into consideration that this particular one third of us will be completely renewed and all our clothing and everything else we own will fade away (see Revelation).

After establishing the undeniable fact that all our possessions will fade away and our bodies will be changed we are left with the cold truth; we live so much of our lives forming many of our relationships/opinions based upon one third of who the other person is, the body third. Really think about that. Doesn’t it sound strange and just a little bit trivial to base relationships primarily on one third? One third is simply that, just one third and one third means a part of a whole.

So, I present a challenge: next time you form an opinion of someone based upon the clothes they wear or how small their waist is why don’t you take some time to try and get to know the other two-thirds that the Lord gave them. Pursue the question ‘Who are you really?’ In doing so you might find out who you really are too.

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