Who am I to judge you? God didn’t give me a judge’s robe when He gave me salvation, just forgiveness. Philippians 2:12, we have to all “work out our own salvation, with fear and trembling before God”. The book of Hebrews will show you how Jesus became our High Priest, not one that didn’t understand, one that could empathize with what we are going through. He faced it all, without sin. He shed His blood for us! We, as living sacrifices, tend to keep crawling off the altar of sacrifice! One day I was sitting at a red light and noticed all the cars going back and forth, there were some new, shiny ones, and a great little two seat convertible right next to me with the sticker still on it! What caught my attention was the number of old, UGLY cars. They weren’t ugly because they were old, just ugly. I wondered about the time they were on the design board, someone must have thought they were pretty or they would not have been built and then sold! Some old trucks still carrying loads, that were ugly still but useful. The very next thought was the first phrase of Ecc. 3:11 He has made everything beautiful in its time. I had just dropped my granddaughter off at a park where a lot of young people were gathered to have their pictures taken. There were many young girls, all looking in mirrors and asking each other how they looked, the guys walking around like young bulls showing off their magnificent “bods”. I smiled to myself remembering when I was one of those young girls and it doesn’t seem that long ago. Time changes the beautiful image we see in the mirror. A new, proud structure becomes old, paint worn and leaky roof needing repair, cars left in junk yards looking like their “bones” had been picked by the vultures looking for special parts. As I drove on, driving roads so familiar that I hardly had to think where I was driving, I noticed the old trees lining the streets, some of them over a hundred years old, graceful limbs hanging over the street, heavy with leaves, that will soon begin to change colors, they are more beautiful than any young person, or young, spindly tree could ever be. I just thanked God for His enduring love and mercy to this old world, and I wish that its citizens treated it with a little more kindness. Psalm 29:2 Give unto the LORD the glory due unto his name; worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness. Psalm 149:4 For the LORD takes pleasure in His people; He will beautify the humble with salvation. 1 Peter 3:3-4 Do not let your adornment be merely outward—arranging the hair, wearing gold, or putting on fine apparel, rather let it be the hidden person of the heart, with the incorruptible beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is very precious in the sight of God. To be beautiful we need to stay close to His holiness, it’s like standing in flattering light, and you just look more beautiful when you stand close to Him. Also, having a gentle and quiet spirit makes us beautiful from the inside out, which lends credence to my mother’s old adage, “Beauty is as beauty does!” Even the homeliest face looks pretty when it is wearing a smile, and the prettiest, or most handsome, less so when it is proud, insolent or rude. Lastly, I have never thought my feet were pretty but I find they are beautiful! Isaiah 52:7 How beautiful upon the mountains Are the feet of him who brings good news, Who proclaims peace, Who brings glad tidings of good things, Who proclaims salvation, Who says to Zion, “ Your God reigns!” To that I finish by saying, be blessed, pray, feel beautiful because as a child of God, you certainly ARE! I hope you learn to bask in the beauty of His Holiness!
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