Beauty part 2
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. And when we are beheld by someone who loves us... that's what MAKES us beautiful. I keep coming back to the idea of Jesus washing us with the Word (which is love) and presenting us to Himself as a bride without spot, wrinkle, or any such thing. And the thing that I keep thinking about is that He didn't wash us so that HE could see us that way... He washed us so that WE could see us that way. When you look in the mirror with an open face and see Jesus looking back at you, that's when you see things clearly. That's when you start looking INTO the mirror instead of just AT the mirror. Seeing what's inside. Look at James 1:22-25, "But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass: For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was. But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed." Being a doer of the word (which, again, is love... Jesus) means walking by faith and not by sight. Acting like the beautiful creatures we are even when we don't feel like it. Holding our heads high even when things try to drag us down. Letting JESUS hold us up when things try to drag us down. Standing on the Rock of His love and knowing that we cannot be shaken. I think one of the biggest problems people have is that they simply believe what the world tells them instead of listening to that still, small voice deep inside our hearts that tells us the ultimate truth of the universe. You know, that God is love and He loves you. That you are His favorite (and so am I). That you are the apple of His eye. That He would literally die rather than live without you. That He DID die so that He could live with you. He died so we could die, and rose again back to life so that we could live. So that we could experience His abundant, everlasting, eternal, Resurrection Life of love as He lives it in us, and through us, and as us. God doesn't want us to forget who we are. He doesn't want us to forget what we've heard from Him. He wants that truth--THE truth--to be the central theme of our life. The guiding light. He wants that truth--one more time, that He is love and He loves you--to inform every aspect of our life. Love is the center, and everything flows from there. Your beauty--let me say it like this: Your beauty is the light inside you shining out through you. Period. It's not what you look like. It's who you are. What you do. Because what you do matters. Being a doer of the work is how we are blessed in this life. And I'm not saying doing the work earns you blessings. I'm saying we are blessed... so that we can do the work. I'm saying the blessing is in doing the work. It's not the destination, it's the journey. Think about it: It's a never-ending life. There IS no destination. Except, I guess, heaven. But we're already there, right? Heaven isn't just where you go when you die, it's where you went when Jesus died. When you died in Him. The days of heaven on earth. Heaven is a mindset. A reality. It's where we are now and where we operate from. The Kingdom of God. The Kingdom of heaven. The Kingdom of love! When you are loved, you are beautiful. Because love shines the light on you. So that you (and everybody else) can see you as you truly are. Beauty isn't something you can produce yourself. It is something God has produced in you. By filling you with Himself. His Spirit. His love!