BEAUTY IMPARTED, BEAUTY REVEALED

There is something in the human spirit that detests feeling ugly. We exert much energy and spend a great deal of time and mon- ey to fix the things about ourselves that we consider less than attractive. We powder, primp, comb and cover whatever we can to appear our best. We long to be attractive and beautiful, and this longing is an expression of God’s genius and personality. A beautiful God created us in such a way that we long to possess beauty, to be striking and engaging. We also long to perceive

beauty, to gaze upon it. God will fully answer this longing in every one of its expressions beyond our wildest imaginations. We are all meant to feel beautiful before God and there is some- thing powerful about those who genuinely do. When the Holy Spirit shows us what God is like and then shows us what we look like to God, something settles in our hearts, minds and emo- tions. Our priorities and values change. The revelation of God’s beauty has two dimensions to it: first, the beauty of Jesus as our Bridegroom, and second, the beauty of His Bride.

Don’t think this is just a female thing: men give a different name to this same longing, and call it a desire to be cool. The impulse of the heart is the same, and has the same solution: the glorious news that the beauty God possesses is the very beauty He imparts to His people through redemption. His beauty is transferable to human beings through Jesus. The person who sets his heart to investigate this will find it a staggering concept! God imparts His beauty through redemption to formerly bro- ken, hopeless, sin-ridden, even demonized, people.

This longing to be beautiful has a huge impact on how we structure our time and spend our money. Every day, millions of dollars and countless hours are spent in pursuit of physical beauty…hair is styled, clothes are selected, gym memberships are renewed and diets are started, all in the pursuit of beauty. Most people pursue beauty at great lengths because of the un- settled, unhappy feeling they have when they feel ugly. We vig- orously chase after beauty and resist that which seems imper- fect. In seeking to answer this legitimate longing, our culture has cultivated an unhealthy, destructive obsession with physical appearance. The secular beauty industry has tapped into this longing in the human spirit and exploited it, creating frustration and self-loathing each step of the way. Advertising executives set the unrealistic standards by which we judge others and our- selves. Deceived by the airbrushed, computer-generated mod- els in the magazines, and misled by arbitrarily-defined beauty, many people live frustrated lives, because, according to what we are told and sold, we are failing in the race to be beautiful.

It is perfectly acceptable to enhance one’s physical appear- ance. However, there are healthy boundaries to this; more is not always better. The obsession with physical beauty is coming to a pinnacle in Western culture. People often become compulsive and stray outside the will of God, turning from utility to pur- suit to overindulgence. Some people put an excessive amount of time and money into cosmetics, fashionable clothing, surgery and fitness. Seeking for natural beauty outside the bounds of the grace of God can be harmful. To overlook godly boundar- ies is to end up with added pressure and troubles. Many sexual and eating disorders are, not surprisingly, linked to an obsession with natural beauty that goes beyond the protective boundaries of God’s Word.

The vanity and frustration associated with beauty has led some to conclude that beauty itself is to blame, that the long- ing for beauty is synonymous with shallowness. Some religions have taken the longing to possess beauty and pronounced it evil. Nothing could be further from the truth—God Himself is the source of all true beauty. Right now, sitting on a throne in an unseen realm, is a beautiful God. He is radiant in appearance. A pure river of life-giving water flows from under His throne and gets deeper and wider as it spreads. This is not a computer-gen- erated image—there are no airbrush artists here—and this is not Hollywood. This is absolutely real—more real than anything we’ve ever experienced. As difficult as that is to imagine, it’s even harder to realize that He wants to impart this same magnificent beauty to us. It’s a part of His gift to us. His beauty, radiant and perfect, has been transferred to human beings through His Son, Jesus. In fact, that transfer is a key element of redemption, a part of His master plan.

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