At the unveiling of the Bride, all the seraphim circle the wedding procession of the Lamb of God. The bridegroom has been waiting for His beloved. Can you see into the rivers of His heart? It’s more than a river flowing by the Tree of Life. A cistern of living water that never runs dry because the depths are infinite miles deep and wide. Drink of His waters they cry as they sing holy holy holy is the Lord God Almighty. It’s brightening as the moments ensue. He is beautiful… and so is she.

Beauty…

How do you define beauty?

Where do you find it?

There’s an origin to it’s glory. The place where what pleases the eyes and senses began. It’s an exhilirating experience… witnessing it. An immediate awareness… encountering it. When what you see and feel overwhelms you with a sense of awe.

“Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God shines forth.” Psalm 50:2

We were made to notice…
Beauty.

God is described as being “beautiful” in Psalm 50 and all throughout the scripture. This is the reaction of the psalmist upon seeing Him. And everyone’s reaction upon beholding Him.

It’s in the human soul… this phenomenon.

Seeing beauty.

Desiring beauty.

Little girls dress up in ballgowns and little boys feel the angst of a first crush. We still do don’t we… the older we get. Different seasons. Heightened forms. Desires conform to new levels.

We are always cognizant of beauty…
What we see.
How it makes us feel.

In nature, people, Heaven, God…

We were innately designed to interact with beauty by God’s design.

We need to know how to interact with it purely. Because we will… for eternity. God wants us to understand what He says is beautiful. And feel the freedom to enjoy it as He intended.

It’s instinctive to notice something beautiful to the eye. God made us with this awareness. But to plunge deeper into the essence of beauty we must taste of its substance also. Is it beautiful when you close your eyes too? Can you feel the beauty of it touching the soul? God wants us to understand where beauty comes from and what it’s made out of.

Everything truly beautiful will remind you of the beauty of our Creator.

Everything beautiful starts with a beautiful core.

Beauty unveils and beauty is real to it’s inner substance before it shines outward.

I can’t help but think of the passage in 1 Peter that talks about beauty for a woman in particular, and how this points out the foundation of the heart. This is often a misunderstood passage. The key here is to look at the verbs. To understand what it is really saying.

“Do not let your adorning be external—the braiding of hair and the putting on of gold jewelry, or the clothing you wear— but let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God’s sight is very precious.” 1 Peter 3:3-4

Notice it uses the verb “adorning.” In English it means to accentuate or cloak with beauty.

But in the Greek it means “kosmos,” or “order “or “arrangement.”

When I found this out, I thought wow… because this word kosmos speaks of the cosmos, the universe. The order of how all of existence is arranged. To think of the complexity of the cosmos is to see God’s greatness and to understand the intricacy that goes into such an expanse.

The heart is also a cosmos… and the “order” (kosmos) of our hearts must be aligned to God’s order. Your beauty must be aligned to God’s beauty in order to express the beauty you were meant to.

So how should we order ourselves according to God’s beauty?

Verse 3 says “don’t let your adorning be external…”. Thus, do not order yourself according to your external appearance only. Or else you will not be arranging yourself in the best way. Verse 4 goes on to say, “But let your adorning be of the hidden person of the heart.” Order yourself, or arrange yourself, around your heart. Center yourself around the heart, which comes from God’s regeneration. The heart is your lifeblood… and thus, your beauty centers around how your heart is arranged. How your heart is arranged will affect how your appearance is arranged. A healthy heart will produce a healthy external reality for you.

Beauty is a combination of outer beauty (the image of God) and the inner beauty (the heart redeemed by God). Both make up our wholistic beauty. It’s both that complement each other. If you have ever heard the phrase “beauty is more than skin deep,” you know that beauty is not solely based on our appearances. Yet we crave to be beautiful in our appearance… we want to feel beautiful… look younger… feel pretty… culture caters to this desire with endless beauty supplements, dieting regiments, workout plans, etc. So to say that beauty is only on the inside is to neglect the truth that we do notice what we see and we want to express that visibly.

But when we know that beauty unveils… we notice that it’s up to us to unveil our hearts if we want to showcase true beauty. And there are times it’s not neccessary to put your confidence in external adornments. The beauty of being unveiled before the Lord is that He sees you… all of you… and He loves what He sees. Don’t miss out on that intimacy by covering up who you are… your heart makes you more beautiful than you know.

God also expresses beauty on the outside… but it’s because He has a perfect heart that it naturally makes Him beautiful in every way.

So again… focus on your heart first and then your outer appearance will naturally be affected with beauty from your heart seeping out and touching the areas of your external body lifestyle.

You will take care of your body when you have a healthy heart tethered to God and want to honor Him with your body (how you eat, how you take care of your body, steward your body, etc).

Your kosmos… your order of life… it centers on your heart… and if your heart it beautiful everything else will be too.

Beauty in the heart will ooze outward into the external.

But adorning yourself with beauty externally cannot make your heart beautiful.

We need beauty of the heart first in order to be truly beautiful.

How do you get beauty of the heart?

I recall King David. The one named “a man after God’s own heart” in 1 Samuel 13:14. He is one who epitomizes beauty of the heart and why? Because he chased after God. That is the secret… chase after God.

When you chase after God, your heart finds Him. And you realize He has been pursuing you even more… and you fall in love more and more… He rubs off on you in the process.

“But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.” 1 Samuel 16:7

David’s heart was beautiful.

We find out later in the story that David actually is very handsome also. It would seem that God was saying here wasn’t because he didn’t want to focus on his appearance when he chose him. Only the heart would he focus on. But that is the point. God does not choose something just because of what it looks like. God’s heart is deeper than that. God chooses based on the heart, and then we see that it’s because of the heart beauty is expressed all over that person too. Just like Jesus.

Your heart is beautified by an intimate relationship with Jesus. A beautified heart creates a beautiful outer appearance radiating His light and glory all over you, the imago dei… image of God.

The beauty God bestowed upon you is both… pleasing to the eye and to the soul. ♥️

You can only recognize another’s innate beauty once you have first discovered your own beauty anchored in a Royal identity as Jesus’ beloved. Jesus says you will be a “royal diadem in His hand” in  Isaiah 62:3. A royal priesthood, in 1 Peter 2:10.

Beauty is not limited to earth’s level of beauty.

Real beauty descends from Heaven.

You were destined to ascend there to glimpse it and be touched by it.

When God shows you what beauty looks like you will never forget it.

You are beautiful because His face shines on you.

Paul declares in this letter to the Corinthians a powerful image of beauty…

“And we all, with unveiled faces, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.”

2 Corinthians 3:8

We are literally transforming into God’s image! You are being made into God’s likeness. God! That is the most Beautiful One in the whole universe… and you get to be transformed into His likeness… you. Because He delighted to make you and so you never have to question if you are glorious or not. You are.

You are beautiful because God touched you.

You are beautiful because God made you.

You are beautiful because God shined on you.

You are beautiful because God made you His beloved.

beauty unfolding

in My eyes

just like I formed you

from the dust that came before you

I loved You

from the moment

I made you

let me show you

your chosen to be Mine

my Bride

whom I delight

to bless with beauty

marked with divine

blood

showered from the Lamb of God

My love showers you forever

Love gives beauty to another…

Love never distorts one’s beauty. That is what the devil does. The devil wants to undermine your identity as Jesus’ beloved and make you feel like you are less than His bride. He wants to point out every flaw he assumes is one, but God will not nitpick His treasure. He affirms you and grows you. He will challenge you into betterment but only as a result of being in intimate relationship with Him. You cannot help but to grow when you are connected to God. And you will become even more beautiful because of His presence permeating yoru soul. Don’t give any attention to the devil. Say “Get behind me Satan!” and let God handle him forever.

God is the first one to bestow beauty and honor, just as He did when He first made Adam and Eve, saying “it is good.” For God to say something is “good” is not a small statement. That’s a big deal. God’s approval is the greatest approval you can receive.

God sees you when no one else does. God sees the veiled parts of you that no one else can see nor reach nor touch nor come to know closely.

“My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth.” Psalm 139:15

Beauty unveils in the presence of the Lord… the One who sees all.

“But when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed.” 2 Corinthians 3:16. You get to interact with Him intimately.

Because you trust Him and feel safe held by Him.

Do you feel safe in the fellowship of those you love? With your spouse? With your friends?

Sometimes our beauty can be veiled with one another. Mainly because only God can know everything about a person before the other person shares and with people it takes time and effort to find out more about the other. And we cannot always see every part of a person. Then when we do we can see things that expose the heart, the mind, the person and in these moments of deep connection it brings a lot of closeness. But also a lot of vulnerability.

Relationships need vulnerability in order to increase in intimacy.

But what do you do when someone is veiled (not being vulnerable) and not able to share a part of who they are?

You give affirmation…

Just as God does.

Affirmation increases confidence and trust. Genuine affirmation, that is. And you can tell if it is. It comes from a place of truth and seeing the real beauty in another because of your proximity to them. Now it is important to note this does not mean that you rely on someone else to affirm you and let you know that you are enough. Not at all. Because only God can be our “enough.” But to be in a deep relationship with someone who neglects to affirm and notice who you really are is not a relationship at all. You need to know each other. And once you do, you both need to know that you still love one another even after all the knowing and secrets are out. That’s what God does for you… God will never be close to you and leave you wondering how he feels about you. He affirms you even though He knows everything about you… why would you withhold that from the one you love?

Give affirmation, genuine and honest. Mutual affirmation. Mutual trust. Mutual deepening of knowing one another. And acknowledging beauty in one another, and your intimacy will soar…

Giving affirmation of another’s beauty, outer and inner (image of God and heart redeemed by God) is one of the best way for lovers to deepen their love.

Why? Because just as we’ve talked about thus far, beauty is an innate desire in the human being planted by God Himself. If you neglect to water and affirm that desire to feel beautiful in the one you love, then you are not connecting deep enough to have a relationship where you are fully known and honored. Thus, they will go unnourished by you and your love will start to feel phony because no one wants love from someone who cannot see them in all they are. If you neglect your loved one, you’re only asking for someone else to do it. You don’t want to lose them because someone else showered them with love because you wouldn’t.

God never stops showering you with affection and affirmation.

God is your standard of how to love.

This is crucial for deep relationships to flourish. Because without affirmation of beauty in an intimate relationship, the two people being intimate will be exposing themselves in thier outer and inner identities without any indication of their worth to the other.

We see this interaction of outer and inner identities mingling between the bridegroom and his bride in Song of Solomon chapter 4.

The bridegroom showers his bride with affirmation of her beauty. But her eyes are hidden behind her veil… So he cannot fully see her face the way he normally does. Yet he still showers her with honor. He calls her beautiful… he knows her well because he has chosen her to be his bride… so well, that not even the wedding veil draping her eyes can hide who she is to him. He knows she is beautiful even when he cannot fully see her… because her beauty has imprinted into his heart and he hasn’t forgotten.

“Behold, you are beautiful, my love, behold, you are beautiful! Your eyes are doves behind your veil.”

Song of Solomon 4:1

Beauty sees beyond the physical. Into the spiritual. And the physical only amplifies what is within. So it altogether complements the whole person.

“You are altogether beautiful, my love; there is no flaw in you.”

Song of Solomon 4:7

I love the bridegroom’s confident love for his bride in this passage. It’s perfect. Emblematic. He puts her at ease and he asserts himself as the leader in the relationship. The leader is the one to step up and affirm first. The one to close all the gaps and let there be no room for questioning. It’s faithful love. Jesus’ love.

Perfect love declares beauty over its Lover.

God declares beauty over you…

This passage is powerful because it speaks of how we and God interact right now as we await Jesus’ second coming.

We are like the bride standing in front of the bridegroom where we see Him through a veil because we cannot see Him fully right now. But one day we will see Him fully. When He comes back and we dwell together in Heaven seeing Him face to face and living with Him in person. The bridegroom personifies Jesus because unlike the bride, the bridegroom can still see the Bride’s beauty despite the veil. God sees us clearly. For all we are… and He is not limited in His vision. He is not looking at us through a veil. He is looking at us directly in the face and we feel this collision by His Holy Spirit. He says you are beautiful… there is no flaw in you My love…

Never stop declaring beauty over your love… whoever that is… never stop making them feel like the treasure you chose them to be. Because that is how God loves you. And we follow His example.

Beauty never fades in the eyes of Him who created you to shine His radiance.

The depth of your heart is shown when you declare beauty over your loved one. Can you tell your wife she is beautiful even when she won’t give you what you need? Can you tell your husband he is handsome even when he isn’t showering you with love? Maybe you need to be the first one to fuel the love again… and let God be your water well for getting that love to give. Because as important as it is for lovers to affirm their love and beauty constantly… it’s even more crucial to get your nourishment from God. For He is your sole lover. You can only love well if you first receive love from God.

You can only see yourself beautiful and glorious if you first let God look upon you… and you see how beautiful you are. Because you are His.

I’m glowing

and always have been

because You’ve written

me in the diamonds

in your eyes

I’m held in the lovelight

of perfect beauty

God’s beauty

Our God is aesthetically pleasing and He is meant to be. To the eye and soul.

You are too…

You are pleasing to the eye.

Because God made you…

Don’t question your beauty nor nitpick your flaws thinking that you should be different than you are. You were fashioned how you are for a reason… and God likes how He strategized your composition. You only get one body… might as well fall in love with yours and steward it beautifully. You are allowed to love who you are.

“I praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Marvelous are Your works, and I know this very well.” Psalm 139:14

No one else is like you and the Lord of the universe loves how He made you… do you?

God says… I’ve never made a human that wasn’t a treasure. I never made a son or daughter I didn’t like. You are My delight. I love you… you are made in My image, My love.

Listen to what God speaks over you…

See beauty in you that’s always been there… Beauty defined by God’s touch. Beauty unveils in the presence of the Lord’s glory. Unveiled to be seen by Him, the King of all creation. Set apart to be His chosen Bride forever.

“Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the splendor of the Lord rises upon you.”

Isaiah 60:1