Spiritual beauty

[Berean]

(J. R. Miller, "Strength and Beauty")

"Worship the Lord in the beauty of His holiness; tremble before Him, all the earth!" Psalm 96:9

"Let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us." Psalm 90:17

Paul enjoins that, "whatsoever things are lovely" shall be in the vision of life, into which we aim to fashion our character.

We are to follow in the footsteps of our Master. Jesus Himself was, "Altogether lovely!" Song of Songs 5:16

Humanity was made to be beautiful. God's ideal for man was spotless loveliness--man was made at first, in God's image. But sin has left its foul trail everywhere! We see something of its debasement, wherever we go. What ruins sin has wrought!

All of Christ's work of grace--is towards the restoration of beauty of the Lord in His people.

Spiritual beauty is holiness. Nothing unclean is lovely. Character is Christ-like, only when it is beautiful.

All the precepts of the Bible are towards the fashioning of beauty in every redeemed life. We are to put away . . .
all that is sinful,
all marring,
every blot and blemish,
every unholy desire, feeling and affection,
everything that would defile--
and put on whatsoever is lovely and Christ-like.

The one great work of Christ in Christian lives--is the fashioning of holiness in them. We are to grow away from . . .
our deformities,
our faults,
our infirmities,
our poor dwarfed stunted life
--into spiritual beauty!

The mark set before us is the likeness of Christ, which, at last, we shall attain! "We know that when He appears--we will be like Him, because we will see Him as He is! And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself--just as He is pure." 1 John 3:2-3
~~~~~

-from Grace Gems

 

[Idelette]

Thanks for posting this! My Pastor was just talking about the Love with which God has loved us, and how he has set that love upon such unlovely creatures! It really is amazing when you think of how unlovely we really are, and how there is nothing within us that would cause the Lord of Hosts to look down and be mindful of us!

I love this quote by John Stott, "On earth she is often in rags and tatters, stained and ugly, despised and persecuted. But one day she will be seen for what she is, nothing less than the bride of Christ, “free from spots, wrinkles, or any other disfigurement,” holy and without blemish, beautiful and glorious. It is to this constructive end that Christ has been working and is continuing to work. The bride does not make herself presentable; it is the bridegroom who labours to beautify her in order to present her to Himself!"