Beauty And The Beholder

When I was about 12 years old, I got my ears pierced.  Well, it wasn’t quite that simple.  In those days, you pretty much did it yourself or had someone “experienced” do it for you, or you could pay a pretty penny to have it done “professionally”.... but who wanted to spend money when we could “do-it-ourselves”?  So, in my case, Santa brought me some pierced earrings for Christmas and my mama was going to do the piercing!  No problem!....not for me that is, but for her... in the end.... well.......      You see when people pierced back then you could do it a number of ways....numb the ear with ice or pinch it real, real hard and then using a sewing needle (cleansed and sterilized, of course!) you would pierce the earlobe. (...it sounds really like we were into pain or at least gluttons for punishment, now that I think about it...)  Anyway, all went well through the first ear, but Mama informs me right after that that she simply cannot (...that’s CANNOT!) do the other one.  Her face did look a little green.  But, I panicked!
“What do you mean you cannot do the other ear????” (....see then it was in fashion to have BOTH ears pierced, not just one....or 20.....like today.  Remember, I was 12 and definitely had a fashion statement to make, you know!)  I was on the verge of tears, and that must have done it since I hadn’t even shed any (...no, not one!) during that painful procedure, because she finished the job, and I proudly still have those holes in my ears to this day.  Then by the time I was 13, Santa left me another surprise....my very first compact of blush, so you can just imagine how literally styling I felt....just an absolute creature of beauty.   Well, creature for sure.... of beauty, very questionable, but I felt beautiful!  Did I act it?  Probably not.  In fact, in the Beauty Department, my mama also contributed advice, not the least of which was “pretty is as pretty does.”  How many times in my life did I hear that?!! ...

“Our deeds still travel with us from afar, And what we have been makes us what we are.” - George Eliot

“Goodness consists not in the outward things we do, but in the inward thing we are.” - Edwin Hubbell Chapin

Thing is our working word here and that thing is Jesus Christ!  “To live is Christ....” as Paul said in Philippians 1:21, and he went on to say in that same verse “...and to die is gain” meaning that as a Believer Heaven, of course, is the desired place to be.  But, in the meantime and as long as we’re still living and want to be “beautiful”, our only hope is in Jesus Christ!  We may need many make-overs, but He is ever faithful (Hebrews 10:23) to keep on molding and making us every single rest of our days here on Earth.  You see, He is the Potter and we are the clay, and through Him we have the potential to become an absolute work of art.

Acrostic:

O - OBSESSION .....  What is ours? 

Looks, clothes, friends, money....and that list of details could go on and on; but you see, when our only obsession is with God and with His Son, Jesus Christ, all of those other details will just fall into place   - - maybe not....in fact, probably not, how we would have figured but certainly in our best interests because that’s all God has in mind for us...best interests! (Jeremiah 29:11) ...but when our obsessions are placed with anyone or anything else other than God ....watch out!

Job 5:5b - “...and the schemer is eager for their wealth.” and

Job 5:7 - "For man is born for trouble, as sparks fly upward.”

Proverbs 14:30 - “A tranquil heart is life to the body, but passion is rottenness to the bones.”

Matthew 6:24 -  “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will hold to one and despise the other.  You cannot serve God and mammon.”  (See also Romans 6:16 and Romans 7:14-25!)

 

B - BASE .....  Our very foundation. 

I mean, we have to start somewhere.  So, let’s start at the very beginning. 

Genesis 2:7 - “Then the Lord God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living thing."

Genesis 3:19 - “By the sweat of your face you will eat bread, until you return to the ground, because from it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” (....that’s God speaking!)

So, at the very beginning God formed man...us....from dust and from this dust it seems we become referred to in the Bible as clay, and just look what our Potter does with clay....

Psalm 40:2 - “He brought me up out of the pit of destruction, out of the miry clay, and He set my feet upon a rock making my footsteps firm.”

Isaiah 64:8 - “But now, O Lord, You are our Father, we are the clay, and You our potter; and all of us are the work of Your hand.”

 

J - JOKER!   No one, not one of us,

wants to look like a joker but many times that’s what we make ourselves look like.  There is another word in the Bible that I believe joker could easily be translated into and that is the word “fool”.  The whole book of Proverbs again and again covers this topic and the how not to become such as one.  I would encourage us all to read the whole book of Proverbs as such wise advice, such wisdom, is found in this precious book.  See also: 

Ecclesiastes 2:14a - “The wise man’s eyes are in his head, but the fool walks in darkness. ...”

Proverbs 3:5 - “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.”

 

E - ERASE! ...and eradicate that perfect picture we have painted of and for ourselves.

Just who do we think we are anyway?!!!

Job 33:6 - “Behold, I belong to God like you; I too have been formed out of the clay.”

Isaiah 29:16 - “You turn things around!  Shall the potter be considered as equal with the clay, that what is made would say to its maker, ‘He did not make me’; or what is formed say to him who formed it, ‘He has no understanding’?”

Isaiah 45:9 - “Woe to the one who quarrels with his Maker - an earthenware (clay) vessel among the vessels of earth!  Will the clay say to the potter, ‘What are you doing?’....”

Jeremiah 18:6 - “ ‘Can I not, O house of Israel, deal with you as this potter does,’ declares the Lord.  ‘Behold, like the clay in the potter’s hand, so are you in My hand, O house of Israel.’ ” (...you know, He’s speaking to “Israel”...but don’t you think maybe that we should take heed here, too?!!!)

Proverbs 3:7 - “Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord and turn away from evil.”  (See also Proverbs 12:15; Proverbs 13:10; Romans 8:5-8; and 1 John 2:15-17.)

 

C - COMPETITION.   Oh, we’re all into that...

you know, what’s the saying?... "keeping up with the Joneses”???  Well, I know some Joneses and I hold them near and dear to my heart...but, compete with them?... well, I’m just not supposed to do that according to God and His Word....with the Joneses or with anyone else for that matter.

Psalm 62:10b - “...If riches increase, do not set your heart upon them.”

Psalm 118:6 & 8 - “The Lord is for me; I will not fear; what can man do to me?”... "It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in man.”  (See also Psalm 146:3.)

Proverbs 11:28 - “He who trusts in his riches will fall, but the righteous will flourish like the green leaf.”

Colossians 3:23 - “Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord rather than for men.”

 

T - TRAIN!  

Proverbs 22:6 tells us, “Train up a child in the way he should go, even when he is old he will not depart from it.”  ...and I believe that holds true for us today in the training, the very"discipline", of our own selves.  But, to properly train ourselves we must go to the Lord DAILY....and within that day, many times it will be minute-by-minute thing. 

We need to keep our sins confessed up (1 John 1:9), then we need to keep on keeping’ on praying and giving thanks (1 Thessalonians 5:17-18), and then search God’s Word and obey His Way and His Will (2 Corinthians 5:7; Hebrews 4:12; 1 John 2:6).
 

OBJECT! ....thus we become - a priceless object though we have been bought for the top-dollar, the ultimate, price ....

1 John 2:1-2 - "My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin.  But if anybody does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father in our defense - Jesus Christ, the Righteous One.  He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world."  (See also 1 Corinthians 6:19-20; Acts 20:28.)

My prayer is this.... Father, mold us - make us,
  We ever so pray,
   Absolute masterpieces
    Out of these lumps of clay.

Father, form us - feature us
  As something to behold
   Bought for the ultimate price
    Let our tags read “sold”!

1 Peter 3:4 - “Be beautiful inside, in your hearts with the lasting charm of a gentle and quiet spirit which is so precious to God.”

Blessings to the Beautiful People!  ....hey, that’s YOU!

Amen and Amen!!

Praying many more blessings your way! 

Kelli