If you asked the question, “What is beauty?” of twenty different people, you would probably get twenty different answers. I looked the question up, and I saw answers like: beauty is your health, beauty is in your appearance, beauty is in your figure, and the list goes on and on. Now all these answers may be true, if we are talking about physical beauty. But is that what really counts? So many have been swept away in the foolish thinking that outward appearance is what really matters, that beauty on the outside is what is important. There is no reason why you need to go along with this. You should break the wave and instead, look at what is beautiful on the inside.
You should look at what is beautiful on the inside because outward beauty does not last. Proverbs says that “Beauty is fleeting”[1]and in the book of 1 Peter it says that your beauty should not come from your outward appearance “Instead, it should be of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit…”[2] Our physical beauty on the outside will not last long, but what is on the inside is unfading. Something that sums this up well is the phrase “beauty is as beauty does”. That is a definition of beauty that you do not hear much anymore. It means that your beauty is defined by what you do, rather than how you look. This is what we should invest our time in something that lasts instead of something that dies.
Another reason why you should look at what is beautiful on the inside is because outward beauty can be deceptive. There is an old saying that says “Beauty is only skin deep” and that is very true. The outward beauty that is focused on so much is sometimes just a cover for something ugly underneath. And, sometimes, what is not very pretty on the outside turns out to be something marvelous underneath. You can never see beauty by just looking at the outside of a person. As it says in Proverbs, “Charm is deceptive…but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised”[3].
Lastly, you should look at beauty on the inside because that is what God sees. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and our beholder is God. He does not look at beauty the way we do. Take, for example, when Samuel was looking for Israel’s next king, God said to him:
Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The LORD does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.[4]
God sees everything, including our hearts. He knows who is truly beautiful and who is not. And a person who is really beautiful is of great worth in God’s sight.
So then, what is beauty? True beauty is what lasts, what is genuine, and what is precious in God’s sight. God is the designer and the creator of beauty everything that is beautiful reflects him. Therefore, when we are imitators of Christ instead of the world that is when we are truly beautiful. Be an imitator of Christ and look as he looks and see what is beautiful on the inside.
[1] Proverbs 31:31, New International Version
[2] 1 Peter 3:4, New International Version
[3] Proverbs 30:31, New International Version
[4] 1 Samuel 16:7, New International Version
Monday, March 05, 2007
Adoption
It all started in 1996, when the Hastings family walked up to a table. The table was filled with pictures of orphans that their church had helped. They picked up a picture of a little girl and they took home to pray for her. Little did they know how God would use that little girl to change their lives. They had never thought of adoption before, but now God brought it to their minds. It became clear that they should bring her home. And not just her, but her little sister too! After the adoption they had a great desire to share the joy and blessings that they had experienced through adoption. They then started a program to help others adopt. They helped blaze a trail for adoption that is now wide open for us. Here are two reasons why you should follow in their footsteps and support adoption.
The first reason why you should support adoption because there is a need. There are many children around the world who have never known what it is like to have a real home or a real family. There are children in China who have lived in an orphanage their whole lives because their parents could not afford to have another child. There are also orphanages in Haiti that are packed full. Places like this where the people are so poor, they send their children to the orphanage in the hope that they will live better there. There are also many children right around us. In 2005 there were approximately 114,000 children waiting for adoption in the United States.[1] There are kids all over the world whose parents either could not take care of them, would not take care of them, or else thought that someone else could do a better job caring for them. Clearly the need for adoption is very great.
Another reason why you should support adoption is because you yourself have been adopted. As it says in Ephesians:
For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will- to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given to us in the one he loves.[2]
Before the creation of the world, God chose his church to be adopted through Christ. You see, adoption was designed and created by God. The adoption that we have here on earth is just a tiny picture of our adoption by God, but it is still an amazing picture. Through our adoption he has shown us an incredible amount of mercy and love that ought to be reflected through us to others. Take a look at what John says:
This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.[3]
You have been shown much love through adoption. You should show that love to others.
The trail has been blazed, the invitation has been sent, now it is up to you to decide whether or not to follow. It is apparent that there is a need, and you should help with that need. Even if you are not able to adopt a child yourself, you can help others to adopt by assisting them through the adoption process, praying for them, and supporting them financially. It is also apparent that God has immensely blessed you through adoption. He has provided a beautiful picture of what adoption should look like. You should follow in the footsteps that he has provided and support adoption.
[1] “Trends in Foster Care and Adoption”, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/cb/stats_research/afcars/trends.htm
[2] Ephesians 1:4-6, New International Version
[3] 1 John 4:10-11, New International Version
The first reason why you should support adoption because there is a need. There are many children around the world who have never known what it is like to have a real home or a real family. There are children in China who have lived in an orphanage their whole lives because their parents could not afford to have another child. There are also orphanages in Haiti that are packed full. Places like this where the people are so poor, they send their children to the orphanage in the hope that they will live better there. There are also many children right around us. In 2005 there were approximately 114,000 children waiting for adoption in the United States.[1] There are kids all over the world whose parents either could not take care of them, would not take care of them, or else thought that someone else could do a better job caring for them. Clearly the need for adoption is very great.
Another reason why you should support adoption is because you yourself have been adopted. As it says in Ephesians:
For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will- to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given to us in the one he loves.[2]
Before the creation of the world, God chose his church to be adopted through Christ. You see, adoption was designed and created by God. The adoption that we have here on earth is just a tiny picture of our adoption by God, but it is still an amazing picture. Through our adoption he has shown us an incredible amount of mercy and love that ought to be reflected through us to others. Take a look at what John says:
This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.[3]
You have been shown much love through adoption. You should show that love to others.
The trail has been blazed, the invitation has been sent, now it is up to you to decide whether or not to follow. It is apparent that there is a need, and you should help with that need. Even if you are not able to adopt a child yourself, you can help others to adopt by assisting them through the adoption process, praying for them, and supporting them financially. It is also apparent that God has immensely blessed you through adoption. He has provided a beautiful picture of what adoption should look like. You should follow in the footsteps that he has provided and support adoption.
[1] “Trends in Foster Care and Adoption”, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/cb/stats_research/afcars/trends.htm
[2] Ephesians 1:4-6, New International Version
[3] 1 John 4:10-11, New International Version
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)
