When you question your beauty…

My daughter,

You are beautiful. You are extraordinary. For the next 5, 10, 15, 20, and even 50 years- you may have days you believe otherwise. This world we live in- it will remind you of your beauty. It might say you are perfect the way you are. It will shout at you to be different and proud. It will tell you to stand out.

While these phrases seem encouraging, they are inadequate. When you struggle to believe your worth I hope you remember my words;

You are beautiful because you are an image-bearer.

You are valuable, not because of all the people you are not like, but because of who you are most like. In Genesis, God created all the world- the sun, stars, seas, plants, animals, and then he created man. Male and female, he created them in his image.  Not as copies, but as a likeness. As I can see bits of me in you, so we see small pictures of God’s likeness in his creation of us.

You are valuable, not because of all the people you are not like, but because of who you are most like.

Do you remember the sunflowers we gazed on in our garden? Their beautiful delicate petals, the vibrant color of yellow, and their strong stalks reaching up to the heavens?

What about the beach we walked on last summer? Our toes in the sand, collecting beautiful shells, watching the sunlight dance on the water as the waves ebbed and flowed along the shoreline.

These show of God’s beauty, his creativity, his majesty. But sweet girl, in all of creation, from the sunsets, to the canyons- it is you who was made an image bearer. It is you who was made to most closely resemble the Creator of all things. Let that sink in just a little.

God created it all, and it was good. Yet sin entered the world, and since that time it’s ugly hand has touched all things. We are not as we were once created.  I feel it. You feel it too. It’s why the words of this world cheering, “You are perfect!” doesn’t feel right.  We know we are missing something. We long to feel lovely but we know so many parts inside of us that feel unloveable.

Yet sin entered the world, and since that time it’s ugly hand has touched all things.

But God? He loved you while you rejected him (Rom 5:8). You loved all else but Him, yet He had mercy (Eph 2:4-5). Jesus’s death on the cross conquered the enslavement of sin in our hearts. 2 Corinthians tells us if we are in Christ we are a new creation. The old has passed away, the new has come! Paul also writes;

2 Corinthians 3:18

And we all….are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.

No longer are we chained by the death of sin. No, sweet girl- in Christ you can grow more beautiful each day. You can put on exquisite gowns that will never rip. You can wear the costliest jewels without spending any money. You can adorn yourself with a makeup that will never fade. You can be transformed in his image, each day, every day. That is the beauty to long for. That is a beauty to pursue. That is a beauty that will not fade away.

Daughter may these words take root in your heart. They give great encouragement yet demand even greater humility. Look around you, and see your fellow image-bearers. May your heart break with their  brokenness. May it rejoice in their triumphs. I pray that a passion would ignite to tell them their worth, their value, and the God who longs to bring them back to himself.

Daughter, you are beautiful. Sons, you are beautiful.  Sisters, you are beautiful. Brothers, you are beautiful. Mommas, you are beautiful.

Beautiful image-bearers of the King of Kings.