Warm Wednesday Words: You’re Beautiful…Just as You Are.

Whether you feel it or not, either inwardly or outwardly, God wants you to know, through Christ, He considers you beautiful just as you are.

In regard to outward appearance, the only ironclad standards worthy of adherence are in the Word.   So defy comparisons, whether in regard to bodies, clothing, cosmetics, etc., and find happiness and satisfaction in your own flesh and modest preferences.

In his book, “The Four Loves”, C.S. Lewis rightly said, “the naked man has seemed to our ancestors not the natural but the abnormal man, not the man who has abstained from dressing, but the man who has been for some reason undressed…nudity emphasizes common humanity and soft-pedals what is individual.  In that way we are ‘more ourselves’ when clothed.”  Aside from obvious lasciviousness and the sometimes justifiable bearing that culture may  have, ignore the myriads of opinions out there on styles, cosmetics, etc. or lack of them.  Thankfully, when the layers are peeled back, true beauty is a character matter.    Outward appearance is of trivial consequence and, within the framework of modesty, a matter of individual preference.  There is beauty in variety, as well as in constancy, because what is behind those preferences or circumstances is what shines through as truly beautiful, as in this picture of Lou Xiaoying, 88-Year-Old Poor Chinese woman who saved abandoned babies.

Inward beauty is the consequential and potentially eternal facet of beauty.  Feeling “ugly” inside can create a chasm of your own making between you and God.  Yet, God wants you to know you are beautiful just as you are.  Because He is holy, He can’t look on sin, but He sees you through, Christ, the Mediator.  He sees you as beautiful because you are His handiwork, despite flaws and  mess ups.   You may disappoint yourself or others but God doesn’t tire of you when you desire to please Him.

Zeph. 3:17 says  God rejoices over you with gladness, quiets you with His love and delights in you with shouts of joy.  Jer. 31:3 says God has loved you with an everlasting love and has extended faithful love to you.  When you walk in His ways, His love becomes even more personal.  1 John 3:1 reminds you to take note of the great love God has lavished on you that you should be called His child.   It is apparent that he wants to nurture you along in just the skin that you’re in, albeit a new heart.  He is rooting for you.

Imagine a God who would indwell you so that He could revive you!   “For the High and Exalted One who lives forever, whose name is Holy says this:  ‘I live in a high and holy place, and with the oppressed and lowly of spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly and revive the heart of the oppressed.'” (Isa. 57:15) It’s a staggeringly triumphant thought to know that when you are weak, then you can be strong because of your wonderful God.  There is no better guarantee than that.  He takes messes and hands back beauty, which becomes your uniqueness merged with His Spirit.  That, my friend, makes you a stunningly beautiful treasure, inside and out.

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