Beautiful One

In a world full of labels it’s awfully easy to get a bit confused about who we really are. Woman in particular are absolutely bombarded with rules and images about what we should be striving to be. And don’t we all want to be attractive, trim, fit, lovely…?

But there’s never been a day in my life when someone named me pretty. And goodness knows I’ve been far more comfortable identifying my self with less than positive attributes.

And in all that feeling less-than, I’ve begun to feel rather purposeless. Defeated. If people don’t like me, if I can’t measure up in their eyes, how in the ever-loving world can I be anything but a blip on the radar in my Heavenly Father’s eyes?

How?

Well, that’s an interesting question. With an equally interesting answer.

We forget that the word says, “The LORD does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at an outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.” (1 Samuel 16:7)

This is truth. When God looks at us, He is not interested in the things the world uses to measure us up. Instead, He looks at us, and sees his Son. Dearly loved. Right now. Right in the middle of our mess. Oh, dear heart! Right in the middle of the things we shouldn’t have said and the good intentions and the dirty floors and the chicken thawing in the sink.

Zephaniah 3:18 puts it this way: “…The Lord will delight in you, and in His love He will give you new life. He will sing and be joyful over you…”

You don’t have to measure up to someone else’s list of standards. You don’t have to work for His love. You can’t earn it. On the contrary, as Pastor Derwin Gray says in “Limitless Life,” “Your purpose for existing is this: to let God the Father love you.”

Isn’t that beautiful?

And what might He sing over us? Well, I have an idea….

“Arise, my darling, my beautiful one, and come with me. See! The winter is past; the rains are over and gone. Flowers appear on the earth; the season of singing has come…Arise, come, my darling; my beautiful one, come with me.” (Song of Songs 2:10-13)