2/3/2016 2:36:07 PM
They All Can Be Beautiful
It wasn't that long ago that some lost paintings of Picasso (among others) were discovered in the apartment of a man in Germany. Supposedly he had kept these "safe" after they fell into his possession after WWII. The paintings were among hundreds stolen by the Nazi's during WWII. If I remember the story correctly, the German authorities were trying to get these paintings back. It wasn't right, they argued, that these valuable and beautiful paintings should be hidden away.
That's the thing with beauty, it needs to be shared.
Not many of us would probably consider ourselves beautiful. We could lose some weight. We could eat healthier. We could exercise more. We could do without those pesky age spots or that receding hairline.
But while the world is busy worrying about the outside, God is busy taking care of what's eternal--our soul. God knows that what is external will one day pass away. That's not to say that our appearance or our life is worthless; but it is to say that (like mom always said) it's what's on the inside that counts. Inside of each of us is an eternal soul. A soul that is integral to every aspect of our humanity from our intelligence to our beauty, from our abilities to our emotions. Our soul is what sets us apart from the animal world. It is the spark. And that eternal soul needs to be right with God.
Born with sin our soul is an ugly mess. But God has offered us something amazing: Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. That's a beautiful message! It excludes no one. The ugliest sinner to the best person are all welcome to call on the name of the Lord. And the Lord promises rescue for our eternal souls. We will be saved. The sin we were born into, is paid for by the life and death of Jesus Christ. God has made us beautiful.
But what good is it if we don't share that beauty? Beauty needs to be shared. In fact, how can anyone claim to be beautiful if they hide themselves in their own home and never show themselves? In the same way, how can we as Christians claim to be beautiful on the inside if we do not share that beauty with other people? We need to go with this beautiful message. We need to go to people lost in the darkness of their own sin and guilt and shame and show them the depth of God's love for them; show them how God sent Jesus to live and die for them; show them that God means this message to be for them too.
Then the beauty that God has put into you, can be shared with others and they can be beautiful, too.