The Fight For Radiance
Can I be Radiant Looking Like This?
The Fight:
Wouldn’t you like to look in the mirror each day and find a reflection that is becoming more and more attractive? And it be yours? Millions of us deplete our fortunes to cover flaws and attempt to defy gravity—for the sole aim of attaining greater personal beauty. It can be a fight. We want to be beautiful and we want to be perceived as beautiful.
Thanks to the Laws of Thermodynamics, physically, you and I are in a constant state of winding down on this planet. Although we might possibly manage to delay the process, our trajectory is the same. The physical beauty we so desire will likely not be our reality.
Or will it? What if the desire to be beautiful and to be found beautiful is not simply a sinful quest of vanity, but a God-instilled hunger for what we cannot see? Thankfully, Scripture communicates that God is not as caught up in physical beauty as you and I.
Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain, but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised. Proverbs 31:30
In Proverbs 31:30 the yearning is acknowledged—but redirected. Seeking the LORD is the greater pursuit. But if we look more closely at the benefits of that seeking—beauty does come.
Those who look to him are radiant, and their faces shall never be ashamed. Psalm 34:5
In Psalms 34:5, we find the person who is willing to humble herself, to look up to God for help, in her difficult situations, and impossible circumstances, in faith—to be radiant. The Hebrew word for radiance means to “beam with joy.” In Aramaic, the word gives a sense of “shining.” We see this concept a little more clearly in Isaiah 60:5 because it uses the word similarly.
Then you shall see and be radiant; your heart shall thrill and exult, because the abundance of the sea shall be turned to you, the wealth of the nations shall come to you. Isaiah 60:5
What we find described in these instances is that the outward appearance begins to tell of an inward condition. These verses suggest that living a life pursuing Christ is worth more than any amount of beauty or accolades one could receive for possessing it on this earth. That knowledge, alone, is enough to encourage us to pursue Christ relentlessly. But these Scriptures also suggest a brightness, a lightness, a shining, and an in-containable beaming of joy that come to the pursuer, making her radiant. You and I can literally become more and more radiant with every new wrinkle, brown spot, and grey hair.
That kind of beauty is worth more than anything this world can offer.
Cheri
I needed this today! Thank you, sweet friend!!
Thank you so much for the reminder today of God’s beauty mark for us! It’s at an opportune time to share with my beautiful teenager who, like many other teens, struggles with what the world says about outward beauty vs. the inner beauty that God gives so we can be a mirror of Him. (Talk about BEAUTIFUL!!!! Can’t get any more beautiful than the Creator!).
You have been a blessing,I embrace my flaws,just want too feel confident, Its not about vanity for me.Its scars from the past.I know now God loves me just as I am.He created me in the likeness of him.Thank you from a spiritual point of view.
Tanisha,
You are SO RIGHT! You ARE created in His likeness! I wish I could give you a hug right now! I don’t know what you have been through – but your God is a God of restoration. I pray that the Word of God will bring healing and truth to continue to show you how He sees you. May your confidence in who He says you are–abound!
With much affection,
For His Glory,
Cheri