True Beauty

       I believe that nothing is an accident, so when I actually encounter this podcast over here or here , I just know that it's for me. This is entitled "True Beauty"  by Nicole Whitacre. I don't know who she is but as I listened to her, it's as if she's the other Mr. Thammie Sy (someone God used to remind be that I am beautiful) in my life . But no, I hesitated, Ms. Nicole taught me other thing. She finally made it clear to me that my God is the beautiful One.

       Here's actually my notes while listening to her message. I honestly cried. There are a lot or revelations here.
     

      To see beauty is to see God. 

To know beauty is to know God. 

God's beauty is: 

Eternal

Lovely

Powerful

Wise

Holy

“It was when I was happiest that I longed most...The sweetest thing in all my life has been the longing...to find the place where all the beauty came from.” 

― C.S. Lewis, Till We Have Faces

Beauty comes from my beautiful God. 

If you're complaining about how you look, you're actually arguing not with the mirror but with God.

 You have a controversy with God. 

It's as if you're telling Him "I could do the creation thing a whole lot  better". 

Trust in His wisdom and goodness. 

I am born in God's thoughts. 

That is the Grandest thing. 

I will resolve to receive my body with gratefulness.

Because of the the most stunning act - Jesus dying on the cross. 

I saw beauty once again. 

He reawaken our vision of real beauty.

If you're looking for your beauty, always look in Christ, not in the mirror or camera.

We are to reflect the glory of God.

The reason why we still feel that we are not beautiful enough is because we took the glory away from Him to ourselves.

God is beautiful and He created me in His image 

becomes I am beautiful because God created me. 

The problem now is it starts and ends with us instead of God. 

It's the preoccupation of myself.

I'm  so self absorb.

I think too highly of myself.

I am  aspiring something more.

We thought of the compliments that we will receive later.

We want that few moments of greatness!

We never get what we think we deserve.

We all desire attention and approval for how we look .

We want them to think or to say "Oh, doesn't she look pretty?" 

We are never satisfied.

We want attention and approval but the truth is 

Jesus deserves all the adoration and admiration.

Glory is the Lord's and it is His alone. 

Don't steal His glory.

The problem with vanity  is we took the story and  write us as the lead. We put us in the lead. 

Sin made us glory robbers. We want center stage. We are grasping for glory.

If your heart was genuinely transformed by the Gospel, you will genuinely want God to have all  the glory.

Understanding the true nature of my struggle can hep me overcome it and repent more quickly.

Cure: Gaze to the beauty of the Lord!!!!

The Gospel made me think less frequently about myself.

Imagine that you are in the Revelation 4, in the throne room of God, you will not think about your hair or clothes anymore but just be in awe of the One who is truly Beautiful.

Application: 

look for an aspect of God' s beauty!

where do I see the beauty of God here (as you read the Bible, as you look at his creations)

behold to the beauty of God again

praise Him

As we do that we won't be thinking about ourselves. We will forget about ourselves.

We will focus on our precious God.

It's be for minutes at first and then it'll hours and days of gazing at this beauty. 

Struggle with beauty starts when we put self not God in the center.

He is like the Sun, as long as he is in the center, everything  will stay in their proper places. 

Gospel offers freedom from vanity and self-focus.

            Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting; but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised.

                                                             (Proverbs 31:30)

Praise God's beauty and get praised. :) 

People will sing your praises as well. 

Not to us, LORD, not to us but to your name be the glory, because of your love and faithfulness.
(Psalm 115:1)