Beautiful part 4
We see perfection, or beauty, as being flawless. Never making a mistake. Looking good on the outside. And that's our problem. That's where so much condemnation comes from. Self-condemnation, and condemning others. Because we are judging by appearance. We have this impossible standard that we are tying to live up to, and trying to get others to look up to. But look at what Jesus said about it, "Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness" (Matthew 23:27). It's not what's on the outside that makes you beautiful. It's what's on the inside. If you are full of dead men's bones (the old man, the Adam nature), then it doesn't matter what kind of behavior modification you try to do. At the end of the day, what's inside comes out. Or rather, what you BELIEVE is inside comes out. So what we really need is a new definition of beauty. Because, believe it or not, we are all beautiful. We are all fearfully and wonderfully made. We all have a purpose for being here. And each one of us has a specific purpose. Nobody can do what you can do exactly the way you can do it. And when you do that thing--whatever it is--man... that's as beautiful as it gets. Not trying to be somebody else, but just being yourself. Look at 1 Peter 3:4, because I think it gives a true definition of beauty: "But let it be the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price." The hidden man of the heart. That's where our beauty comes from. Because that's where our love comes from. And it comes OUT of a meek and quiet spirit. THAT'S why the meek will inherit the earth. Because a meek and quiet spirit knows how to receive. You don't earn an inheritance. It is given to you, and must be received by you. So instead of trying to make ourselves beautiful--or perfect, or holy, or however you want to say it--instead of trying to earn something, instead of trying to DO in order to BE, we need to understand that we already be. Jesus put His beauty on us when He took up abode IN us. He presented us to Himself as a bride without spot, wrinkle, or any such thing. He shined His light (on us, and in us, and through us) in order to show us how things really are. In order to show us that we ARE beautiful in His sight. And when we look Him in the face, we find grace in His eyes. We see the glory of the Lord and are changed into that same image from glory to glory. What's already inside of us begins to manifest. Not because we're trying really hard to be something we're not, but because we can finally see what we have always been! We were made in the image of God, but it wasn't until the cross that we were conformed into the image of His Son. Until we could SEE what that image was. And in seeing... we begin to be. We BE transformed (into what we've already been transformed into) by the renewing of our minds. By LETTING the mind of Christ that's already in us... be in us!