What do you think of when you hear the words “becoming beautiful?” Many of us probably think of a large mirror in a well-lit room, surrounded by dozens of makeup brushes, creams, powders, and amazing smelling perfumes.
What do we do before we leave the house? We probably look in the mirror to check our hair, makeup, and outfit. We want everything to be “just right” before we leave.
What if we started to use God’s Word the same way we use our bathroom mirror?
God’s Word is the best mirror any woman could use. It’s also the best beauty tool we have for becoming a beautiful woman. The first step we must take to become truly beautiful is to remove all the “ugliness” residing in our hearts.
Becoming Beautiful by Removing the Ugly
“For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass: For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was.” James 1:23-24
God’s Word is a woman’s ultimate beauty tool. It’s wonderful mirror to check the condition of our heart. Inside the pages of His Word we find the things that make our hearts ugly as well as the things that will make our hearts beautiful.
Before we can become beautiful, we must first remove the ugliness from our heart. Here are the three steps we must take to remove the ugliness from our heart.
1) Identify the Ugly sin. When the Bible speaks about laziness, pride, anger, bitterness, or other heart problems, we should take a moment to examine our own heart. Is there a particular sin present in our heart? We must call a heart problem the same name God calls it… sin. Let’s not beat around the bush. If we have anger inside, we are sinning. If we are holding a grudge that means we have bitterness in our heart. God calls bitterness a sin. While we read God’s Word, let’s identify the ugly sins in our heart.
2) Confess the ugly sin. The next step to remove the ugly sin from our heart is to confess it. Again, we must call the ugliness the same name God calls it… sin. We cannot confess sin if we are unwilling to admit that we have sin in our heart! Confession is the second step to removing the ugly sin in our hearts.
3) Forsake the ugly sin. After confessing the sin we must forsake it. We must completely turn around and leave it behind. Once we leave it, we must not go back. Forsaking something means to leave it behind and never return. After confessing, let’s forsake the ugly sin.
Once we start to treat our Bible as a mirror for our heart, we will begin a life-changing journey of becoming beautiful.
I have divided this post into two parts. Next week we will look at Becoming Beautiful by Putting On the Lovely. You don’t want to miss part two!
Now it’s your turn
- Do you have a tendency (like me) to use your bathroom mirror more than the mirror of God’s Word?
- Do you have a hard time calling the ugliness in your heart by it’s real name… sin?
Consider these questions in your heart… if you would like to share your answers, feel free to leave a comment below. I ♥ hearing from you!
For further reading, consider checking out one of my favorite books: Beautiful in God’s Eyes by Elizabeth George.
Yes, yes, to both!! It’s amazing how certain things can be such a priority (like beauty and the mirror), when the most important thing we can ever have is God’s Word. Many times I try to justify something I’m doing, but like you said it needs to be called sin. Thank you for this post, and I love Beauitful in God’s Eyes. A fantastic read.
Yes, it is sooo easy to get our priorities mixed up! Thankfully, I’ve been blessed with a mom who frequently reminds me to check my priorities! 🙂 I’m so glad you like that book too!!
Wow, yes, they are both so true in my life! Those are couple other things that I need to fix in my life! Great post!
I’m with you there… there’s always something to fix! So thankful for a God who is never done working on me! 🙂 Thank you for commenting!
I totally use the bathroom mirror more, and if I see something wrong in that mirror, I tend to try to fix it right away or despair about the problem (like a zit or something). I wish I was that concerned with the problems I found when I examined myself with the Word – repenting and trying to deal with sins right away, and being broken for how bad they are. Great relation between the two, and this inspires me to change the way I approach my Bible-reading time!
That’s a great point! Usually when we see something in the mirror we want to fix it RIGHT away… But not so much when we see something wrong with our heart. Thanks for sharing…. I hope this will help you in your Bible reading 🙂
I definitely have the tendency to attempt to “become beautiful” with makeup and face creams. It’s a tough battle to fight, but I love your idea of replacing the ugly with the truth of God. It’s really the only way to fight those thoughts of inadequacy and imperfection. So, thanks for the wise reminder today! 🙂
I found you via Grace & Truth!
I’d also love to invite you to link up with us at 100 Happy Days. It’s every Thursday-Sunday. Here is the link if you are interested: http://lifeofscoop.com/community-100-happy-days-week-14/
Have a wonderful weekend, and thanks again for the grace-filled, truth-filled reminder of where our true beauty comes from.
Hi Alison, thank you for visiting my blog and commenting. And yes, it is so easy to think of beauty in terms of outward appearance only!
Thank you so much for the invite! I would love to link up 🙂
Have a lovely day and a wonderful weekend!
I love that illustration you used of the bathroom mirror and the Bible! That is so true! Yes, I struggle with both! Thank you for this encouraging post! 🙂
I think it’s really neat how even the Bible calls God’s Word a “glass” which would be like a mirror :). I’m glad this post encouraged you! Thanks for commenting!
Thank you for this post, Rebekah. It was a blessing. 🙂 Looking forward to part 2!
You are welcome… thank you for visiting my blog! 🙂
Wonder to read you. I remember when Adam and Eva sinned they did not confess and things were different in God’s eye. On the other hand, Portugal’s son sinned but understand, come back, confess, and get back into a relationship with his father. If we need to identify our sins, confess, and forsake to get back to God. As He is holy He never compromise with sin but He waited for me to confess/ repentance and come back to Him because He always waited for me to come back as Portugal’s son’s father waited for him. Thanks for this wonderful lesson. I am encouraged and will share with a youth group the same lesson in the next week. Please pray.