Beautiful People

In the era of flower power and hippies, some people aspired to become part of the Beautiful People.

 Women wore floaty dresses, while men wore John Lennon glasses and beards, and VW camper vans were painted to look as though they had been on the Magic Roundabout. These people  appeared to live in a parallel universe, where beauty ruled

St. Paul tells us that followers of Jesus should be Beautiful People, in the way we react to those around us. 

For instance, 'Never pay back evil with more evil. Do things in such a way that everyone can see you are honourable. Do all that you can to live in peace with everyone. 

Dear friends, never take revenge. Leave that to the righteous anger of God. For the Scriptures say, 

“I will take revenge; 

I will pay them back,” 

says the Lord.  

Instead, 

“If your enemies are hungry, feed them.

If they are thirsty, give them something to drink. 

In doing this, you will heap burning coals of shame on their heads.”

 Don’t let evil conquer you, but conquer evil by doing good.' (Romans 12.17-21)

I heard a great story yesterday from a friend, who applies this principle at work, to change the attitudes of the moaners and critics. 'Can I get you a cup of tea?' or 'I'm just popping out for a coffee. Fancy a latte this morning?' By doing this relentlessly, and by refusing to be beaten down by those who are negative, attitudes have been changed. This is the work of the Beautiful People.

We can develop the right attitudes ourselves, as we follow another piece of Paul's advice. 'And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honourable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise. Keep putting into practice all you learned and received from me—everything you heard from me and saw me doing. Then the God of peace will be with you.' (Philippians 4.8-9)

It all seems to simple. If we think beautiful thoughts - and reflecting on the life of Jesus would be a good place to start - then we might live differently, and others will notice. That would be good, wouldn't it?!

Best wishes,

Richard