‘Those who look to Him are radiant…’ Psalm 34:5 NIV
It’s said, ‘Beauty is in the eye of the beholder’, but you can waste your life trying to please the wrong beholder. Kristin Armstrong says: ‘When it comes to beauty, each of us carries baggage from childhood… I’ve fretfully hung clothes of every size in my wardrobe… messed with make–up when I should have slapped on sunscreen and gone outside to play. I’ve eaten close to nothing in an effort to stay small… wasted time worrying I wasn’t pretty enough when I should have been enjoying the things that made me interesting. Throughout history the definition of beauty has shifted to reflect society. Sometimes we should be curvy, other times thin as a lathe; sometimes tanned, sometimes pale; sometimes with long hair, sometimes with short… We devote our energies to meeting the latest standards and… guess what? There’s always another mandate… We must seriously consider whose heart we’re trying to capture… God’s is the only one worth pursuing.’ Paul says, ‘…Don’t let the world around you squeeze you into its own mould, but let God re–mould your minds from within…’ (Romans 12:1–2 PHPS); ‘If anyone belongs to Christ…The old things have gone; everything is made new!’ (2 Corinthians 5:17 NCV) You won’t find the secret to inner beauty and peace by comparing yourself with the photoshopped models on magazine covers. That kind of image is unsustainable. You’ll find peace by asking God to remove the scales from your eyes and show you what you look like in His eyes. ‘Those who look to Him are radiant.’ The only healthy and lasting definition of beauty comes from God because He judges people by ‘…what is in their hearts.’ (1 Samuel 16:7 CEV)
SoulFood: Num 29:1–6, Matt 24, Rev 11:15–19, 1 Cor 15:50–58
The Word for Today is authored by Bob and Debby Gass and published under licence from UCB International Copyright 2024
