Beautiful in God's eyes

We are masterpieces made in the image of God.

According to Psalm 139

¹³ For you created my inmost being;
    you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
¹⁴ I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
    your works are wonderful,
    I know that full well. Psalm 139: 13 – 14

Yet distressingly an alarmingly high number of people believe or have believed they are ugly. They actually use those words. This may have been spoken over them or they have believed the lie of the enemy. Nothing could be further from the truth. Yet while we believe these lies our focus rests on our shape and size, our facial features and not on who we are in God’s eyes – his child, fearfully and wonderfully made.

In our image conscious Western world the ideal is to be thin, willowy with long gorgeous hair if you are female and tall, dark and handsome if you are man. I exaggerate the stereotypes but you get the picture. One leading UK store even uses size 4 mannequins to display its products.

We all struggle with self-image wishing we were taller, shorter, thinner, fatter, had bigger this or smaller that but God made us – unique and self-acceptance is a battle well worth winning.

Now that does not mean that God does not want us to look our best. In the past Christians were known for being dowdy and old-fashioned. They made a virtue of letting their clothes last a life time! But in our pursuit of looking good we must never forget what Peter said:

³ Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as elaborate hairstyles and the wearing of gold jewellery or fine clothes. ⁴ Rather, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight. 1 Peter 3: 3 -4.

Beauty comes from the inside out not the other way around. God built character displaying his love and the fruit of the Spirit is a wonderful goal. Look at Nick Vujicic the man with no arms or legs, nothing to admire in a physical way yet what God has done in His life with his character, attitude and motivational speaking is truly amazing.

All my life I have struggled with my weight – part of this is genetic – I come from families who were never tall and willowy but basically short and fat and part poor lifestyle choices in the area of eating. I’ve always wanted to be thinner and though I rarely followed a diet, I always wanted to lose weight.

I was bemoaning my inability in this area and the fact I felt fat and overweight when God told me quite clearly that my size and shape were not the issue – what was important was that I was healthy. The reason for this was not just because that is a good goal but He wanted me to be available for the long haul. He had much for me to accomplish. Self-induced poor health so often hampers what we can do for God. He told me to cut back sugar, eat as healthily as I could, exercise and focus on him not my size. I immediately asked God for a verse to encourage me. Straight back came this verse:

Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting; but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised. Proverbs 31: 30.

That settled it. Whenever I feel discouraged or start obsessing about food or weight, I quote that verse aloud to myself.

Finally I want to nail once and for all the lie that anyone is ugly. How can anything made by God be ugly? Despite wrinkles and flab and anything else we may deem undesirable, God loves us as we are. We are beautiful and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.