There’s a monster in Dungeons and Dragons called a Beholder. They typically have one central eye and ten eyes on short tentacles. At least that’s the way they were when I played D&D all those years ago. For some reason, though, “they” moved the creature’s mouth from pointing straight down to a horizontal orientation. To me it makes more sense, and is more frightening, to have the mouth on the bottom. But then, fear is in the eye of the beholder. Heh. Yeah. Weak joke.
But it’s true. The central eye had some pretty powerful stuff going on, if I remember right. So fearing the eye of the beholder was prudent.
Beauty is subjective, too. The way a person views something is very seldom the way someone else does. For instance, I don’t think cubist artwork is anything really impressive. Nor do I like the works of Rembrandt - boring. Salvador Dali is far more interesting, IMHO. Monet, Michelangelo, even Munch is better than a Rembrandt.
You may disagree, but then, beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
When it comes to what people think of as their glorified bodies when they get to heaven is different, too. Some people may think they’ll be musclebound, with six-pack abs. Others think their bodies won’t be perfect unless their ribs are poking out. Others like hair hanging down to the middle of their back, and still others would like to be bald. (That’s me, BTW. I’d rather be totally bald and not have to shave. Don’t get me started on ear hair.)
One thing I think people fail to realize is that what WE perceive of as beautiful right now may bear little resemblance to what God wants.
Doctors insist a human body is unhealthy if they have a BMI over a certain number. Years ago I heard that by the BMI standard, Arnold was obese when the Terminator movies were recorded. That could have been wrong, but it shows you can’t boil human health and beauty down to a BMI statistic.
God created us all different from each other. Therefore, what He thinks is lovely in you might not be the same as what He thinks of it in me. Maybe God will give me a glorified body that we’d think of now as obese. Maybe He’ll want me to have a body-builder physique. There’s also a chance he’ll want me to be so skinny it’s painful to think of right now.
Our glorified bodies will be exactly what God wants. Heaven will be exactly what God wants, too. Scriptures talk about walking on streets paved in gold, but who really cares? God’s economy won’t be run on gold or silver. The true value of heaven is God alone.
His is the only eye qualified to behold what is beautiful.
If you don’t fear that Beholder, you’ll have a lot more to worry about than your BMI.
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