Psalms 139:13-14
For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother's womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well.
Something we don’t hear enough is, “you’re beautiful” or “You’re handsome”. I think as the church we tend to neglect the idea of self-esteem when it comes to beauty. We tend to beat around the bush when it comes to caring about our physical appearance. We as Christian are very focused on what’s on the inside, we don’t really focus on physical appearance. It’s more about what our heart looks like. While that is great and I do not want to discredit that in any way, I believe that it is important for people to be complimented. I feel that it is important for us as Christians to have confidence. I believe that we should be able to see ourselves as beautiful and not be accused of arrogance or cockiness.
God formed the innermost parts of us but He also formed the outermost parts of us. We were created by the greatest artist there is, was, and will be. We are the greatest work of His hands, made in His image. If that’s not beautiful I don’t know what is. I talk about this because I truly believe that we are beautiful people and we must believe that. It’s something that many people especially people in our generation suffer with. You’re beautiful, don’t let anyone tell you it’s just on the inside.
One of my favorite movies and musicals is The Color Purple. It’s a beautiful story, and a piece of the plot is a woman finding her own beauty and learning to own that. There is a point in the story where she can’t even look in the mirror for more than two seconds. She doesn’t see herself as beautiful because she has been told over and over that she was ugly. She has been beaten down all her life and eventually, she starts to believe it. I tell this story because there are too many people especially within the body of Christ, as I stated above, walking around with low self-esteem. There are too many people out there who don’t believe that they are beautiful. I’m talking about the men too, especially men, they get overlooked too often. We all need to hear it at one point or another. It’s one thing to think but ti believes it is different. I grew up being bullied really bad, I was called ugly every day for years and I heard that word so much that I eventually started to believe it. This is why hearing it is important.
I feel like a lot of people are opposed to Christians being attractive, especially if they’re pastors. Like, people are really shocked when they see a pastor who is attractive. It’s interesting like it’s almost a sin in the world for a Christ follower to be hot. Our beauty isn’t just on the inside, we are human just like the next person, and there is nothing wrong with being told you’re beautiful, feeling beautiful, or wanting to be told you’re beautiful.
Back to the story of the color purple. In the musical at one point the actress playing the lead sings a song, and in the middle of that songs she looks out into the audience and says, “I’m beautiful”, not once but twice. The actress Cynthia Erivo who plays the role talks about this moment in the play. She discusses how we need to hear this statement more often and how we do not hear it enough. I believe that we are fearfully and wonderfully made and we have to believe that to be true in every part of our lives.
All this to say, have confidence, know that you are beautiful. Start to see yourself as more than just a beautiful person on the inside but know that God has made you and there you are the most beautiful thing ever. You’re beautiful on the inside but you’re also beautiful on the outside. Believe that.
Reflection
Take the time today to look in the mirror and say, I’m “beautiful” or ‘I’m handsome”, gorgeous, pretty, stunning, cute, whatever word you choose. Then compliment someone, make someone feel good about themselves today and every day following.
Prayer Time
Take the time to pray that God boosts the confidence of His people. Have a conversation with Him about what we talked about today.
I love you, I hope you have an amazing day or evening. Be sure to share this with someone and come back tomorrow for Day 163!
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