Even the most beautiful people have flaws they find unappealing. We look at them and see the movies they’ve starred in, or the number of fights they’ve won in the ring. We imagine living with their wealth, or having others fawn over their every desire.
Yet, talk to these people, and we will find that she sees her nose as too big. He imagines his torn muscle giving way in front of a crowd of thousands. She wonders if she’s loved for who she is or for what she can offer people. He worries about an upcoming investment report in the midst of a failing economy.
Helen Keller famously said: “The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched - they must be felt with the heart.”
This was from a woman who lost her sight and hearing at a very early age. Her only input from the world around her was through touch, taste, and smell. To her, beautiful said something very different than to the rest of us.
How different must be the beautiful standards of God?
Let’s see what God’s Word says about making us over to become beautiful to him.
1 Timothy 2:9-10 speaks to the beautiful transformation of our bodies.
“Likewise also that women should adorn themselves in respectable apparel, with modesty and self-control, not with braided hair and gold or pearls or costly attire, but with what is proper for women who profess godliness—with good works.”
Colossians 3:5 tells us how to become beautiful in our motivations.
“Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.”
Ephesians 5:3 reveals how strict we must be in our makeover.
“But sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints.”
Hebrews 13:4 imparts a high standard for honoring the family.
“Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous.”
Titus 2:3 reveals the on-going nature of our beautiful lifestyle.
“Older women likewise are to be reverent in behavior, not slanderers or slaves to much wine. They are to teach what is good…”
1 Thessalonians 4:3 is the secret formula for obtaining God’s beauty.
“For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality.”
Galatians 5:19 helps us recognize the flaws God desires to improve.
“Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality…”
1 Corinthians 7:2 lets us know our flaws are common to everyone.
“But because of the temptation to sexual immorality, each man should have his own wife and each woman her own husband.”
1 Peter 3:21 is our presentation to the world that God has made us over to be beautiful.
“Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ.”
We live this reality show every day. The real question we have to ask ourselves is whether we want to win the prize or simply take our place as a runner-up. The choice is ours.
We are already on display. When God transforms us, we are beautiful to look upon.
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