Where I Parted Your Hair

And His disciples asked Him, saying, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” Jesus answered, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but that the works of God should be revealed in him.

John 9:2-3

Have you ever wanted to change something about yourself? I have! Hair, appearance, personality, you name it! It seems to be a natural tenancy of humanity to want to change what you got into something that you wished you had. Short people wish they were taller, tall people wish they were shorter; curly tops wish they had straight hair, straight hair people wish they had curls; older people wish they looked younger, and younger people wished they looked older!

We spend our lives in a culture that verbally promotes individuality and uniqueness, the embracing of differences, yet we end up with politically correct conformists. Because you're "free" to be yourself, as long as it looks like the most popular people in Hollywood. 

The other day my sister told me, that your hair has a natural part. Now I'd heard rumors of this, but I finally decided to try and find where my hair parts naturally. You see I've been parting my hair down the middle for my whole life. I thought that's where it was supposed to part.

Low and behold, my hair parts somewhat to the left of center. And the reality hit me, this is were God parted my hair. When He formed me into being, He built into my hair follicles a strong suggestion on where my hair should part. Now it's not sinful to part it somewhere else, but this revealed to me that He has an opinion about it! 

Where my hair parts is not by accident! Nor is my baby face, my brown eyes, or my height. He created me to look like this, because this is how He wanted me to look, it was a purposeful and intentional design. 

I have 8 younger siblings who were all born in China and it's amazing how many elderly Chinese/American individuals have come up and talked to them. Why do they come up to them? They wouldn't come up to me or even notice me, but they feel a connection with my siblings because of their appearance. They have the opportunity to show the love and light of Christ to these people thanks to the Lord's perfect plan in how He created them to look. 

On the same theme, when my parents were in China, the Chinese people watched them and approached them because of how they looked! They looked different, they knew they were westerners-Americans and they had a great curiosity about them. My parents had the chance to show the love and light of Christ to these people thanks to how God had created them to look! 

This world has tried to standardize how we "should" look and we've downplayed the importance of our appearance. If the Lord bothered to part your hair, that tells me, He carefully and intentionally created all the rest of your features as well. I often pray that the Lord would be glorified in my life, but I never considered that He could be glorified in my appearance. That it was just as skillfully crafted by Him as my purpose and calling.

Think about that! This isn't another self-esteem pep talk about how we're all special. It's the reality that He created every part of our being with the ability to bring glory to Him. If we truly recognized this and embraced it, how would we approach our closet and mirror differently? 

Our appearance is so much more than what we wear or do to our hair, it's another avenue the Lord can use to spread the hope of Christ to others! You are a visible display of an invisible God and He has perfected your beauty with His splendor. Who would want to change that?

“Your fame went out among the nations because of your beauty, for it was perfect through My splendor which I had bestowed on you,” says the Lord GOD.

Ezekiel 16:14