Unfading Beauty

Who are you, and what does your life show? Don’t look in the mirror! That is a pale reflection that you can’t even touch. What does your heart say? What does your heart say to you, and what does it say to the rest of the world? Are you real? Or are you a façade, a mask, a veneer, a pretension and imitation of your own making? What have you let into yourself, and what are you filled with? Are you gilded with glitter and glamor and glitz and illuminated by neon and phosphorescence and LEDs and floodlights? What is the glow about you, and what is the light within you? Moses’ face glowed because He had been in the presence of God. Do you glow? Do you glow? Do you have light beyond this world? Where do you get your energy and excitement and essence? What is skin deep, and what is the content of your character? The leaders of the Sanhedrin recognized by their spirits that the disciples had been with Christ. What is recognized about you? Whose presence are you within? Do you let in the drunkenness of the world and let it fill your spirit? Or are you filled by the Holy Spirit and the fruit of the Spirit, to the brim and overflowing? Are you filled with the wit and wisdom and knowledge and truth of the Word of God? Do you know the Way and the Truth and the Life? Is there beauty within you? Is there grace within you? Is there holiness within you? Is Christ within you? What do your actions say? What do your words say? What do your thoughts say? What does your heart say? What does your life say? Have you come into the Presence and become a part of the best Way? Is Christ seen and recognized and exalted where you have been and where you are and where you are going? Is the beauty of Christ the beauty of who you are? Let it shine! Let it shine!

Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as braided hair and the wearing of gold jewelry and fine clothes, but rather, let it be the hidden person of the heart, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is very precious in the sight of God.  – 1 Peter 3:3-4

But the LORD said to Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The LORD does not look at things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.”  --- 1 Samuel 16:7