You Are Beautiful

Do you have any idea how beautiful you are? I mean, you are drop dead gorgeous. It has nothing to do with your face or your body shape, as fine as those may be, and everything to do with the Jesus in you. When you are controlled by the Spirit of God all the beauty of Jesus is seen in you and you stand head and shoulders above everyone else in this world. Because this is our goal, to allow Jesus to be seen in us, we have to be careful that we do not allow the pattern of the world to diminish that light.

What I mean by this is that we cannot allow the goals, agenda and attitude of this world to superimpose itself on our life. We cannot allow the negative to impact the positive and we cannot allow the dark to diminish the light. It should be the opposite. The more we grow in Jesus the more the positive impacts the negative and the more the light gives chase to the dark. Negative thoughts and emotions must no longer find a place to root in us. After all, darkness plays no part in the brilliance of light.

Consider for a moment what should not be found in the life of a beautiful child of God:

Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. (Ephesians 4:31)

Again, this is not given as a self-improvement list but instead as a road marker. If these negative things are found in you there is a problem in your relationship with Jesus. I find here the most dangerous of these to be bitterness and malice. These two can fool us into thinking we are okay. They can lay buried in us for a long time and surface when we least expect them to. The whole world can think we are nice people but instead we are plotting our revenge and evil intent toward others.

How many times do we hear in the news "but he was such a nice neighbour"; "he was a quiet guy, wouldn't hurt a fly"; "he was very nice, generous, always willing to lend a hand". That is until the malice in him overflowed into some horrible act of violence. There is a lot of darkness in people, hidden but active. It is why the world needs Jesus. But those of us with Jesus have to make sure that we are not allowing any of these negative seeds to take root. We have to make sure these things are not lying beneath the surface while we put on a good act.

If any of these things come near us we have to allow the light to chase them out, to expose them. When they are exposed and we see them we need to deal with them. And how do we deal with them? By allowing all the goodness of Jesus to wash them away:

Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you. (Ephesians 4:32)

The big thing here is forgiveness. There is nothing more beautiful and powerful than a forgiving person. Forgiveness prevents bitterness and malice from taking root. Forgiveness cuts off rage, anger, brawling and slander before they can mature into action. Forgiveness is never an option when a person has been changed in the revelation of God's love. To be frank with you: If forgiveness is not an easy thing for you you don't know Jesus. Jesus made it plain, forgiveness is a priority. He said that if you do not forgive, you will not be forgiven. He didn't say it just once but many times.

The way to get rid of ugliness is to allow the beauty to increase in you. When the ugliness is revealed in you allow the beauty of Jesus to overwhelm it. When negative thoughts and emotions come knocking allow the love of Jesus to turn them away. Allow the forgiveness you have been shown to de-root all bitterness and malice. If there is stuff that has deep roots, confess it, talk about it, expose it to the light of God and allow the Spirit to dig it out. You are beautiful, don't let anything rob you of that beauty.