Beauty

We say that beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but tonight a friend gave me the words for how I have felt for a long time (thanks Alice). A long time struggle and frustration. It is funny, we have so many things going on in life that we don't notice sometimes when we are struggling with things. My struggle has been with those I love. My frustration has been that they don't see themselves as beautiful as I see them!

The words of a song by Maroon 5, "She will be loved" say, "I want to make you feel beautiful." Those words sum up my frustration. When I love someone who doesn't think they are beautiful, it is like I am not trusted, my opinions are rejected and not valued. Now that's more about my own self pity, but there is truth in this.

We can battle with each other, trying to make each other feel beautiful while still not wanting to feel beautiful ourselves!! How stubborn can we get?!!

Does God want us to feel ugly or beautiful? We are the bride of Christ. It is often said that if you were the only person who accepted salvation, Christ still would have died for you. We know that when God looks at us He sees the beauty of His son's righteousness (so that doesn't make us feel personally beautiful!) But don't you think that God would want us to feel beautiful? Over the years there have been those Christians who think we should feel wretched, a kind of worm theology that says we are not fit or worthy of anything. Well that might be true in some sense, but Jesus was willing to die for us, so we are worth that much! A thing is really only worth what someone is willing to pay for it.

If someone paints a picture, that picture could easily end up on the rubbish tip, but if someone came and paid several million pounds for it, then that picture would be valued and treasured and kept under lock and key. The pictures that hang in the galleries are only a few drops of paint on a canvas, they aren't worth more than a few pounds in real value, in fact apart from reusing the canvas they probably aren't actually worth anything. Yet the beauty that people see in those pictures is what makes them worth that money to them. They are seen as worth the government having special buildings to house them so that everyone can enjoy their beauty.

So, if we were worth so great a price, then perhaps God thinks we are beautiful. Perhaps, then He wants us to feel beautiful. Not arrogant and proud, but not downcast and dejected. Both really are pride. Both are based on one's own interpretation of one's self. Humility would be to say that we are whatever God says we are. There isn't a lot in scripture that talks about our beauty. There is the Song of Songs. And there is Isaiah 61:3:

"and provide for those who grieve in Zion—
to bestow on them a crown of beauty
instead of ashes,
the oil of gladness
instead of mourning,
and a garment of praise
instead of a spirit of despair."

There is also Peter's reference to women being beautiful with good qualities rather than adornments.

In the Isaiah passage, notice that God wants to reward those who are after His heart with making them want to feel beautiful.

If we truly felt beautiful, then would we abuse ourselves as we do? If we accepted the beauty that those who love us want us to feel, would we be insecure? Would we feel useless or worthless? Would we feel depressed and alone? Surely it is the devil who wants us to feel like this, certainly not the God who says nothing can separate us from His love and that we are more than conquerors! So, if the devil wants us to feel wretched and God wants us to feel beautiful then why do we oblige the devil?

The five cow wife!

"On the boat trip to the island he noticed a group of locals laughing hysterically. Through an interpreter he asked them what was going on. On this particular island and I make no comment about it they had a custom that a woman's hand in marriage was paid for by the groom in cows. There had been no inflation for centuries, and the going rate for an average woman's hand in marriage would set you back about two and a half moo moos. The most that had ever been paid was five cows for the most beautiful and perfect woman the island had ever seen. The least was half a cow, indicating that the lady involved was well passed her sell-by date. The islanders were all laughing because there was one man who had actually paid five cows for a wife that, really, could only ever be considered a three cow-er. The islanders said that the groom had been conned by his new father in law, a situation which they all found particularly funny.

Once the student was on the island he made up his mind to find the man with such poor bartering skills and let him know what people were saying. Eventually the two met, and our English friend tactfully and gently told the man that he was a fool with no concept of what a good woman was worth. 'Ah yes,' was the reply. 'I paid for my wife what I wanted to pay for her, and I paid what I thought she was worth. To me she is worth every udder, and when she walks through the village, now she walks with her head held high. She says to herself, I am a five-cow woman. And because she believes that she is worth five cows, she acts like she is worth five cows and she even looks like she is worth five cows.'" Mike Pilavachi (Soul Survivor)

If we truly believe that we were worth the death of Jesus, do you think we would act like it and even look like it?!!

Wouldn't that be a great ministry title? Shouldn't it be every Christians' answer to, "What is your ministry?"

"I make people feel beautiful!"