Beautiful in God's Eyes

July 12, 2017

Beautiful in God's Eyes

The very first day after we arrived in Thailand, our house helper commented to me, “Your skin is so white. You are beautiful. My skin is very dark. I’m not very beautiful.” Wow. I didn’t know what to say, other than to tell her that isn’t true. But I had yet to understand one of the aspects of the culture of Thailand.

White skin is beautiful.

Unfortunately, that sweet girl is not the only person to say this to me. In fact, our new house helper said exactly the same thing on her first day in our home just a few weeks ago. Isn’t it funny that in the US, we spend hundreds of dollars on tanning lotions and spray-on tans, hours in tanning salons or outside at the pool or the beach, all to try to make our skin darker?

Because tan skin is beautiful.

Where in the world do we get our ideas of what is beautiful?

One thing this does show me, however, is that there are so many ways in which we really aren’t that different from the people on the other side of the world. So many of us apparently feel like we have fallen short, or failed to live up to some standard of what is good and beautiful and desired. I’ve heard it over and over again from women of all ages – now on two continents.

But if I am completely honest, I would have to admit that, at almost 50 years of age,
I still struggle with my self-image.

Some months ago, Chris Tomlin released a song titled Good, Good Father. It’s funny how it seems like people either love this song or hate it. I’m a love it person. I’ve heard it called “fluff,” but it is scripturally true – I checked that out the first time I heard opposition to it. Read a few of these wonderful truths in the word:

God is a good father - Deuteronomy 1:31, Psalm 68:5, Romans 8:15

I am loved by Him - I John 3:1, Romans 5:5-8, Deuteronomy 7:9

God is perfect in all of His ways - Deuteronomy 32:4, Psalm 18:30, Psalm 145:17

I wonder, though, if perhaps this song doesn’t mean as much to you if you feel very secure in God’s love. If you are confident of who you are in Christ, maybe it doesn’t encourage you like it does someone like me, who has walked with Jesus for 40+ years and still has times when I wonder if it can really be true that the God of the universe loves me.

Because here's the thing. Bible verses like Proverbs 31:30 are true and important to know: "Beauty is fleeting, but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised." But what this particular verse DOESN'T tell you is that you ARE beautiful, and you have intrinsic value. We need Proverbs 31 to remind us to develop our inner beauty. We absolutely should remember that "God does not see the same way people see...the Lord looks at the heart" (1 Samuel 16:7).

But we also need Psalm 139:14 to tell us,

"I praise You because You made me in an amazing and wonderful way.

What you have done is wonderful! I know this very well."

Outer beauty certainly isn't the most important thing, but we still need to know that the Creator of the universe, Who is perfect in all of His ways, made us exactly the way He wanted us, and then He looked at us and said, "It is very good!"

Who are you?

You are a beloved child of God, created specially by Him to be exactly who you are. And you are valuable. He gave His very life so that He could be in relationship with you.

This is what I tell my daughters, and the amazing thing is that the more I share this truth with them, hoping to implant it into their hearts and minds for eternity, the more I find this truth implanting itself in my heart as well.

I want them to not care what they look like, not care what other people think about them, not always feel like they are laid bare before a judging world (which probably isn’t thinking that much about them at all, truthfully). I just want them to be in love with Jesus, and know that He sees them as beautiful and smart and talented because He is the one who made them that way. And nothing else matters.

And I hope that, during our time here in Thailand, we can influence some of the hearts of the beautiful people of this land. That we can help them to go against their culture in this particular area, and dig down into the truth of what God sees when He looks at them. Beauty.