May 22, 2019

I love things that are beautiful. Don’t you? I love it in things for my house. I love it in clothes. I love it in jewelry. If you don’t know, I’m a bracelet gal. I gotta have them and I gotta wear them, usually several at once. Yeah, I was a bracelet stacker way way way before it was popular. Pretty things make me smile.

I think as women, we naturally love things that are beautiful, but I have said many times how I can’t stand that idea that we encourage women to repeat mantras about being beautiful and other things. I wrote an article about it several years back and I still get women that email me and want to argue the point with me.

Beauty is More than Mantras

I wanted to take a few minutes today and clarify that it isn’t about not loving people. I am not saying people don’t have value. Just because I don’t endorse the idea that we repeat empty mantras to ourselves doesn’t mean I don’t think people are not worth loving. It’s quite the opposite of that. I think women are worth something and so why are we selling them so short? Shouldn’t we want Christian women to be the beautiful that Christ wants them to be?

When Jesus met the woman at the well (John 4), He didn’t tell her to look at herself and see how pretty she was. No. He basically reminded her of reality and of how many husbands she had in the past. He even called attention to the fact that the woman wasn’t married to the man she was currently with at the time.

I think Jesus wanted her to see what her life was really like. I believe that He wanted her to see her sin and her need of that Living Water. Jesus wanted more for her than her current situation and her current life.

Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again: But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life. John 4:13-14 (KJV)

Beauty is about being more like Christ

I understand that we should be comfortable in our own skin. That’s a given, but I fear that so many people want us to be happy with ourselves just as we are. To me that’s a worldly idea, not a Christian one. Once we have accepted Christ as our Lord and Savior, our lives become all about being more like Christ. We should be Christ-followers. Nothing is our own. It’s not about us anymore. It’s about doing what Jesus wants.

What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own. 1 Corinthians 6:19 (KJV)

I get the feeling that so many are trying to tell us that if we have to change ourselves, that life isn’t worth it. We need to realize that when it comes to the Christian life, we should want to change!

Following Christ is all about growing to be more like Him. It is about evolving into a better human being because of Christ. It is about growing those fruits of the Spirit and allowing the Holy Spirit to work and move through us.

Beauty doesn't come from vanity

I don’t want to settle for the beauty I can produce and exhibit on my own. I want more! I want to know Christ more! I think the attitude exuding from all these things that women are telling other women to chant and believe can lead to an ordinary life. I sure don’t want that. Do you?

All this takes me back to that passage in Ephesians 5. We can’t be deceived by vain words.

Let no man deceive you with vain words: for because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience. Ephesians 5:6 (KJV)

We must start proving those things like it says.

Proving what is acceptable unto the Lord. Ephesians 5:10 (KJV)

The Christian life isn’t about being okay with ourselves. It is the opposite. It is about dying to our wants and desires. It’s about submission to the will of God. It’s about allowing the Lord to have control over us.

Beauty can shine when God is honored

Can our life be beautiful? Of course it can! The Lord can take us right where we are and help us to glorify Him. He can take a broken life and make it so very beautiful, but it all revolves around losing our own wants and desires and choosing what Christ wants for us.

All through Ephesians 5, we see warnings and good advice to be the beautiful that is important. Recently I read and reread Ephesians 5 a few times. There is so much power, wisdom, and encouragement about how our life can honor Christ in that chapter. There is so much to think about so we can be those “followers of God” that it mentions in the very first verse of that chapter. If you haven’t read that chapter in a while, jot yourself down a note to do just that. You’ll find so many things that will help you lead a beautiful life for the Lord.

So, I want to encourage you to not look at yourself and call yourself beautiful. I encourage you to seek the right kind of beautiful. We can only find it when we step back, let go of ourselves, let go of our desires, let go of our pride, and allow Christ to have ultimate control of our lives. Be the beautiful that Christ wants you to be.

Copyright ©2019 Julia Bettencourt.

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