Reflecting His Beauty
We have already seen in Beauty Part I that we are beautiful because we reflect His light through the hidden person of the heart. We are not to concentrate so much on the outward appearance of our person that we neglect the inward appearance of our person. God loves the imperishable quality of the inner gentle and quiet spirit- it is so precious to Him! (1 Peter 3:3-5).
Imago dei means “in the image of God”. Because we are made in His image, we are beautiful! Genesis 1:26 says, “Then God said, “Let us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness…” We are in His IMAGE, so we look like God. But we are also in His LIKENESS, so we are LIKE God in many ways. God created, and man is creative; God is omniscient, all-knowing, and man is intelligent, growing in knowledge; God is all-powerful, and He has given man power; God is eternal, and man has a beginning but will live eternally.* As His creations, we reflect His likeness and this includes His beauty.
And we are not just a bunch of cells that randomly came together. No! We were skillfully made by God as we see in Psalm 139:14 New King James:
I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
Marvelous are Your works,
And that my soul knows very well.
My frame was not hidden from You,
When I was made in secret,
And skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.
Fearfully here does mean to fear, but it also means “to stand in awe, reverence, honor, to cause astonishment.” You are fearfully, reverently, honorably made. When God made you, He was in AWE of what He made. When someone is in awe of something, their jaw drops, they take a step back and they are ASTONISHED. I understand this feeling of astonishment. It was the feeling I had, when I first saw each of our children. I was totally in awe of what God had made. Each child was perfect.
When our son was born (our first), the doctor came in to do his first checkup. I was just staring at our son’s little PERFECT face and in total AWE. The doctor said, “Don’t worry about his misshaped head. It will go away eventually.” I thought, “What?!” I felt like punching him and wanted to say, “You are the one with the problem! This is a perfect little baby, and I see nothing else but absolute perfection here!” But I didn’t say it out loud, even though I was shouting it inside my head. Even more so, how must God feel about each of His children? Later, we looked at the pictures we took, and our son’s head was very misshapen, but honestly neither my husband nor I saw it AT ALL, because we thought he was just so PERFECT and BEAUTIFUL!
Wrought means “to variegate, mix colors, embroider, fabricate, needlework.” Sounds like artwork, doesn’t it? I like to do cross-stitch (another kind of needlework). When I do my cross-stitch, I don’t just start cross-stitching and expect it to turn into something beautiful.. I start with a specific pattern for the piece. I have a plan. Similarly, when God made you, He wove you together according to His design, like intricate embroidery with variegated colors. How beautiful! Song of. Solomon 7:1 New American Standard Bible says:
How beautiful are your feet in sandals,
O prince’s daughter! …
The work of the hands of a skillful workman.
God was the skillful workman who made you. Skillful means “expert”. You weren’t just formed by any old workman. You were formed by the EXPERT, the best workman there ever was! He formed you in His image, and because God is beautiful, you are BEAUTIFUL! Walk around your house today and shout it out, “I’m MARVELOUS!” “I’m WONDERFUL!” “I’m BEAUTIFUL!” Let it sink in.
So moms, revel today in the knowledge that God is a skillful workman, and
GOD MADE YOU WONDERFUL, MARVELOUS, AND BEAUTIFUL!
In His Love,
Suzanne
* Bob Sarbaugh, The Life and Calling of the Intercessor (Meadville: Christian Faith Publishing, 2019), 42.
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