Behold what great love the Father has lavished on us,
that we should be called children of God!
And that is what we are!
1 John 3:1
Hey, women! Do you know that God sees you as beautiful? Psalm 139:13-17 declares it loud and clear.
13 For you created my inmost being;
you
knit me together in my mother’s womb.
14 I praise you because I am fearfully and
wonderfully made;
your
works are wonderful,
I
know that full well.
15 My frame was not hidden from you
when
I was made in the secret place,
when
I was woven together in the depths of the earth.
16 Your eyes saw my unformed body;
all
the days ordained for me were written in your book
before
one of them came to be.
17 How precious to me are your thoughts, God!
How
vast is the sum of them!
What is your response to this splendid Psalm? Did it make you feel good or did it make you feel uncomfortable? Do you believe it or not?
1 John 3:1 is a true statement for everyone who has believed on the Lord Jesus Christ as their personal Savior, repented of their sins and follows after Him. What a great gift God has given us in salvation! Redeemed to God’s own heart! Known by him as his child! I’ll tell you what, that kind of reality is something I love to lean into.
There may be some folks who know that they are not a believer or are unsure if they are. The second Scripture is for both you and the believers. God created everyone one of you because he wanted to. He delights in all of his creation. In Genesis 1:31 says, “God saw all that he had made, and it was very good.” Not just good, but very good. So, whether you believe it or not, you are beautiful! Whether or not you believe in Him, God delights in his creation.
The reality is that everyone is also not perfect. As believers we long to be perfect like Christ. We want to behave like him, look like him, pray like him and believe like him. We want this because he has redeemed us by his sacrifice on the cross, and better still, he rose from the grave on the third day and now lives to intercede for us. Here’s the Gospel: Jesus Christ did this for all of humanity because he loves us. This gift of salvation—freedom from sin and the terrible burden of guilt is available to anyone, anywhere, anytime. That is what we understand to be God’s grace—perfectly, unmerited favor—not because of all the good things we have done, but because he first loved us. It’s available for you today.
Here’s the reality: prior to admitting that we need someone to save us, we’re all pretty raggedy pieces of humanity. We’re broken and beat down. We’re full of ourselves and full of self-pity. We’re tattered and torn, faded and neglected. But along comes Jesus and he stands next to us in all of his perfect, creative beauty and offers us another way. He says to us, “Come. Follow me. I’ll make all things new!” And if we are humble enough, we accept his invitation and become new and truly beautiful because we know we are beloved.
I remember some of my first paper dolls. I loved those pretty, little, perfects dolls and all their accoutrements. I remember the vivid colors and the perforations in the shiny paper. I remember thumbing through the pages before I carefully punched out those dresses and hats and coats, to choose the ones that I thought were the most beautiful.
I also remember what happened to those paper dresses over time. The little flaps that held them on tore off after folding them too many times. The accidental folding of the pieces permanently marred them, the colors curling back from the edges. When I left them out too long the colors started to fade. And then I didn’t think they were so wonderful anymore.
It’s the same with us. We are born into this world just a little less than perfect—but bright and shining, open to newness and filled with wonder. As we grow up we are given many opportunities to rebel and become selfish. Sometimes terrible, hard and sad things happen to us. We get marred, start to lose our vibrancy and fade into the daily grind and soon we can become something other than what we were intended to be: the not-so-perfect mother, the rebellious daughter, the rage-filled banshee, the depressed and isolated woman, the disappointed or disappointing and bitter wife.
And then Jesus comes and stands beside us and says, “Come. Follow me. I make all things new.” If and when, we choose to respond it must be in true humility because we finally admit we need a Savior. We cannot make ourselves beautiful. In the images of the Old Testament mourners, we stand before him in sack cloth and ashes. So, unlike the beautiful, perfect paper dolls we imagined we would be!
But that is when his transformation begins. He starts making things new: sometimes little by little, sometimes in great bounds. If those of us who follow him think back to when this first started, it is quite remarkable to remember how far we have come by his power and greatness.
One of my favorite passages about God’s delight and renewal of women comes from Psalm 45:10-15. It is a coronation or wedding psalm used in ceremonies to celebrate the King and his new bride becoming a queen. It is regal in nature, pomp and circumstance.
Very early on, though, religious leaders and God’s people came to also regard it as a Messianic image. The Messiah is the king and groom, the bride is God’s people. Just as in our day, becoming a bride can be a long process of beautification, so back then we could see the same and even more elaborate processes. Wasn’t Esther pampered and trained for twelve months (Esther 2:12) even before she was presented to the king? So, too, the symbolic and actual brides represented in this Psalm were made new. Listen to this incredible description.
10 Listen,
daughter, and pay careful attention:
Forget
your people and your father’s house.
11 Let the king be enthralled by your beauty;
honor
him, for he is your lord.
12 The city of Tyre will come with a gift,
people
of wealth will seek your favor.
13 All glorious is the princess within her
chamber;
her
gown is interwoven with gold.
14 In embroidered garments she is led to the
king;
Beautiful imagery! In this Psalm we can see a woman who may have come from humble beginnings transformed into a golden princess and this is no paper doll! This is the real, wonderful woman as she is supposed to be.
She is given very specific directions.
-Forget
your people.
-Forget what is behind.
-Let
the King be enthralled.
-Oh, just let him love and admire you!
-Rise to the occasion and be all that you can be!
Each one of us has either been at the palace door or has already entered in. If Christ, who loved us and gave himself up for us, is our King and our new husband, then let the beauty radiate!
This is where we can invite the Holy Spirit to teach us deeply how, in Christ, we are loved and treasured. The King has selected us. He is enthralled with us.
How then shall we live?
It would be easy for me to affirm all of the worldly ways in which we women are told we should be. Daily through television, billboards and magazines we are told that we don’t measure up, that we are less than others, and that we don’t deserve to be loved like all those other women. Our mothers and daughters suffer under this terrible message. Our single women and widows suffer under this. This world will tear us down, chew us up and spit us out--if we let it.
When we give our lives to Christ, we live in a new realm. It is a realm that is filled with honor, strength of character and stunning spiritual beauty. Proverbs 31:30 says, “Charm is deception, and beauty is fleeting; but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised.” This kind of fear is not the fear of one oppressed or beaten down. This is the fear of a woman who knows that she was created beautifully and wonderfully. This is the respect that a woman shows her Lord because she has been wonderfully saved, redeemed and transformed. This is the woman who lets her Lord love her into such grace and power that all around her marvel!
In thinking about paper dolls and all their pretty clothes and reflecting on what Jesus Christ has done for us. I think about our closets and what we put on. There are all kinds of clothes in our closets. There are tattered things and things we may feel really ugly in or simple clothes that are humble in appearance. There are bright and pretty things that we wait to wear for special occasions.
What if we translated that to our spiritual lives? I searched out and prayed over Scriptures that might help us see the enthralling, golden gowns that we have in God our Savior. I found many wonderful Scriptures, but one really stayed with me. As I meditated on this, the profound truth came to me that sometimes we hang on to the old stuff, the inappropriate stuff, the stuff that is not beneficial or destructive and we keep putting those on. What if we took all of those old clothes and exchanged them for God’s new clothing? What if we embraced who we really were, forgot all that old stuff and let the King love us?
Read carefully Colossians 3:1-17.
Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.
Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. Because of these, the wrath of God is coming. You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived. But now you must also rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator. Here there is no Gentile or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all.
Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.
Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts. And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
A number of years ago, the Holy Spirit prompted me to put a rule in place in my household. If I put something into my closet I must take something out. So, now, whether I get it as a gift, or buy it at a second-hand store or online, I remove an old article of clothing and exchange it with a different one.
I believe we can do this now in our hearts. Let’s do some exchanging, shall we? Why don’t we go to our closets right now?
What if we exchanged
sexual immorality for a new self
impurity for spiritual songs
lust for wisdom
evil desires for humility
greed for compassion
idolatry for knowledge of our Creator
anger for kindness
rage for patience
malice for gentleness
slander for forgiveness
filthy language for songs and hymns
lying for God’s Word
bigotry for peace of Christ
racism for thankfulness
and what if we, over all of this, put on love--as Christ loved?
The Apostle Paul wrote the letter to the Colossian Christians who were battling with the same things that we battle with. They were surrounded by a pagan society pressing them to be different than what they were to be in Christ. And the Apostle told them plainly that it is entirely possible to live in the realm of our King Jesus. We are to forget all those other things, clothe ourselves in God’s righteousness by the power of the Holy Spirit.
You are so beautiful! You really, really are. When you let the Savior forgive you, when you let the King be enthralled, you can walk around in those golden gowns knowing who you are in Christ. Those golden robes are the real and lasting garments of God’s love, and they won’t wear out or fade.
Praise Him!
Amen
© M.R.Hyde 2023
