Polishing Brass on a Sinking Ship

Several weeks ago our pastor, Jeff Clark, at First Hattiesburg was talking about how worrying about our physical appearance, trying to make ourselves appear our best, was akin to polishing brass on a sinking ship. I liked the phrasing and wrote it down to reflect upon, and I think it's definitely a very shrewd expression for people who still have not found Christ, but who are very much aware of how they appear, the kinds of looks they get from people, and how they try to be at the top of the social niche.

However, no matter how good they look, how much they tone up their physical body, it's the spiritual body that counts! So the term "polishing brass on a sinking ship" indicates someone who is trying to make themselves look good while they sink into the abyss. Now, this isn't to say we should just let our physical looks deteriorate, let ourselves become unhealthy, or completely ignore our appearances, but how important can it be to look our best while we encounter hell, which is defined as eternal separation from God? We must balance our lives with working on our spiritual selves first, talk to God, develop a personal relationship with Him, then work on the physical on the side.


Another way to look at this is a phrase I've always found amusing: Putting makeup on a pig. In this case, the "pig" would be the stagnant, rotted spiritual self while the makeup represents making the physical self as beautiful or handsome as possible. Again, trying to attain physical beauty while our spiritual side is ugly is simply not a worthwhile goal. As Matthew 16:26 says:

"For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?" NKJV

So therefore, we may have "gained the world" (ie, our physical beauty), but what good will it do when we do not have an eternity with God before us, but an eternity separated from God? For He didn't create us and put us into the world to be the most beautiful, the most handsome, the most glorified of His children; He put us into the world to show compassion and love Him and each other first and foremost, but also to test us through trials and tribulations, through joy and happiness, through sorrow and defeat, through family and love, through emptiness and solitude. For truly, what can be more beautiful than someone glowing through the love he has for, and receives from, God? No matter how beautiful a person is externally, he is merely an empty, lifeless, desolate shell without the grace and life that comes from Jesus. And that, my friend, is simply not attractive.


So what can we do to make ourselves as beautiful, as handsome, as attractive internally and spiritually as we are physically? Read our Bible. That would be the first step. And then talk with Him. Prayer does not have to be merely asking for things, and indeed it should not be merely asking for things. We should give praise and thanks, express our love and gratitude, and simply talk to Him. We need to tell Him our fears, our desires, our feelings, our thoughts, our yearnings. He knows them already, but He wants us to tell Him anyway. And when we come across passages and verses in the Bible that we don't understand, ask Him to clarify. He certainly always has for me. And if He'll do it for me, when I was cut off from Him, ran from and denied Him, for 30 years, He most certainly will answer anyone who listens. That's the key. We have to be willing to listen. And once we have our spiritual lives in order, our physical lives (and looks) will fall into place. This is not to say that we will suddenly become a beauty queen, or the prom king, but how we value our looks will have the proper priority over how we value our relationship with Christ; others will view us differently, will see the inner beauty that we will have, and will not judge us so much on our physical appearances. Not that true followers of Christ should ever judge another on the basis of appearance or anything else, since that is for the Lord God to do, but let's face it, all of us are sinners and tend to judge when it's not our place to do so.