Let’s talk about the word “Beautiful”. This is a word we hear very often in our society and conversations, but what do we mean when we see or hear the word “beautiful”? We use the word to describe cars, food, people, scenery, or maybe a memory, and in each of these instances we obviously mean it in a very pleasurable way. But when we say that “God makes broken people beautiful” how do we mean the word then?
Does it mean that when I follow God all of my problems will be gone? Will my loved one come back to me? Will I break this wretched habit? Will I be happy? Will I be sought out and will people want to be with me? Will I now be lovable to someone and found pretty? These things would truly be beautiful, many would say, and I would agree. But God sees beauty a little differently. God’s beauty is much deeper, much sweeter, and it remains so forever. This is the beauty that I am speaking of here.
But to see the wonder of this beauty that God desires for us, we need to understand how broken and scarred we, as humans, have become.
Our lives were created and designed for God’s loving care and authority. But when Adam and Eve rebelled against God, by disobeying Him in the garden (see Genesis chapters 1-3 in the Bible) they were taking control over their own lives. They questioned God’s command, and rejected His concern over them, causing the beauty of their creation to be horribly scarred and disfigured. This, of course, has been our curse from that time on. This scarred their wonderful lives, and changed their beauty into ugliness, ugliness that has been passed down through
Maybe your life (or mine) was good for a long time. Health, money, friendship, and love, were available and enjoyed. But here’s what happens…
* we learn that we control nothing…
* friendships often do not last…
* people at times leave you when times are hard…
* the things that were supposed to bring us happiness, bring heartache instead...
* we fight and exert all of our energies into things that ultimately do not bring the pleasure and satisfaction that we longed for.
We find that our original design to look like God (“let Us make Mankind in Our Image” Genesis 1) has been broken and that this broken Image has caused broken lives. Lives of fear, sadness, and, perhaps, despair.
But, take heart. God does not want us to remain this way. His heart aches to give us His beauty, the beauty of His Son, Jesus. The beauty that is formed in us even when we struggle, weep, and are exhausted. We’ll talk about this next time.
(Image by Su Xingping)