Do you remember the story of Beauty and the Beast? Of course, you do. There was a time when the Beast’s face was handsome and his palace pleasant. But that was before the curse—before the shadow fell across the castle of the prince. And when the darkness fell, he hid. Secluded in his castle, he was left with a glistening snout, curly tusks and a bad mood.
But all that changed when the girl came. Stunningly gorgeous. Contagiously kind. If ever two characters lived up to their names, didn’t Beauty and the Beast? Somehow the Beauty saw beyond the hairy, drooling, roaring exterior of the beast; she saw something worthwhile. She fell in love with him. And because Beauty loved the Beast, the Beast became more beautiful.
The story’s familiar, not just because it’s a fairy tale. It’s familiar because it’s your story, too. There is a beast within each one of us. It wasn’t always so. There was a time when humanity’s face was handsome and palace pleasant. But that was before the curse—before the shadow fell across the heart of Adam. And ever since the curse, we’ve been different—beastly, ugly, defiant, angry. We do things we know we shouldn’t do and wonder why we did them.
from Max Lucado’s He Choose the Nails