3:36 p.m. Today's project was to arrive early at the "I'll Second That!" clothing swap at our church this morning, to help out in the dressy clothes and shoes section. A crew of women have been selecting and sorting the donated items for months now, and everything looked lovely in the sanctuary as we gathered for a devotional, instructions and to have a fun time of fellowship.
My friend Pat and I had lots of fun visiting with the ladies as they combed through the offerings in our section, and caught up with each other's impending family weddings: her grandaughter next Saturday, my daughter in June. From three gals involved in the DesRossiers-Sharick wedding, I heard that I absolutely must to go to Dress Barn to look for a M.O.B. dress before I make a final decision! Between that store, Steinmart, Macy's, and the online orders I have coming in the mail this week, I think the Lord can surely cause one dress to jump out as "the one!"
We women are always concerned to look our best, ever since civilization began. Pottery from ancient Mycenaean cultures, as well as the debris from Pompeii, paintings in the pyramids and the sculptures of Greece and Rome show ladies totally glammed up! In Genesis 12:14-15, Abram's wife Sarai was so beautiful that Abram lied about their being married so the Egyptians wouldn't kill him to possses her! Esther was described as "lovely and beautiful" (Esther 2:8). Her stunning looks won her the queenship that saved her people from annihilation throughout the Medo-Persian Empire. So my role as a professional beauty consultant is no trivial, laughing matter, thank you! God created beauty, and every one of us is beautiful to Him.
The ultimate beauty treatments in scripture come from the hand of God Himself. Psalm 149:4 says of the Lord,
For the LORD takes pleasure in His people;
He will beautify the humble with salvation.
Just imagine--when we humbly come to Him confessing and repenting of our sins, and asking Jesus Christ to be our Savior, God takes us at our ugliest, and makes a trade with us. He gives us "beauty for ashes" (Isaiah 61:3). We receive, walk and act in beauty, a radiant beauty that comes from the innermost depths of our being. We are now Christ's very own special creation!
We then are free to act in beauty, sharing the love of God with others, speaking of what we know about Whom we know. And God finds us especially lovely as we obey His command in Mark16:15: "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature."
The Lord GOD says of those who witness, in both Isaiah 52:7 and quoted in Romans 10:15:
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 reighns!
Sisters, while we attend to our outward appearance as appropriate, let us concentrate on being beautiful in the way that God commends, as bearers of the Good News that JESUS LIVES!
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