One more thought

[alextuckness]

One topic I should have covered in the talk is this: what if I don’t feel beautiful in character either? We should ask ourselves, “relative to what?” Compared to Christ, all of us fall terribly short. Here is where we must fall back on the grace of God. We should not start thinking, a little more character and then I will have beauty. Rather, every life that has been saved by Christ is already beautiful because Christ dwells in it. It is true that our actions can either adorn or tarnish the gospel, but none of this changes the fact that God lets us share in His goodness and beauty. Often we desire beauty because we desire relationship. With God, the relationship exists because of grace, not because of any beauty we bring to the table. This frees us from the pressure to be beautiful in order to win God’s love and allows us to strive for beauty of character in response to God’s love.

[benjaminbradley78]

hey alex,
i just wanted to say that you looked really good when you were giving your talk on thursday. not that it matters...

[benjaminbradley78]

on a serious note, the talk was a great reminder to me to spend more time thinking about those areas of character that need work in my life than areas of physical appearance. especially cuz i started working out a few weeks ago...

[tsmith]

I was talking with Sarah yesterday, and we were playing a game where we say one word that we would like to be described as and one word that we think others really would use to describe us.

I wanted people to think that I am caring, but as I thought more about that I realized that I don't try too hard to exhibit that character. I put far more effort into choosing my outfits than I do into trying to reach out to people that I see need a friend...

Just encouraging others to be honest with themselves as we all reflect on this teaching.
What would your word be?

But like Alex said, don't beat yourself up! Use this as a mirror to look for places to work on and not to feel upset - we are all beautiful (inside and out) because of Christ!

[adv]

I thought I'd noticed something different about Ben lately.

[tivo]

i feel like the person people believe me to be is often different than the person i know myself to be. i'm glad Jesus loves me. i don't often feel very beautiful. thank God that through Christ i'm seen for His glory, not my own.

[jklemme]

The funny thing about beauty: though you can find it in everyone and everything, it is difficult to describe exactly what it is.