Share Jesus to Be Beautiful
“And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!’” - Romans 10:15
How often do we struggle with a desire for affirmation, a desire to be loved? We come home from a hard day at work and wish our wife would greet us at the door with a hug. We give our employer our best all day long and just want to hear “well done.” After an encounter with difficult people, we could really use a pat on the back and encouragement to persevere. When we look in the mirror and the voice in our head says we are ugly, fat, unlovable, we long for someone to look us in the eyes and say, “You are beautiful.”
The problem we encounter when we don’t get these things is that we become even more hungry for them. And the more hungry for them we get, the more we believe we deserve them. And the more we believe we deserve them, the more we are claiming we are god and Jesus is not. We start to believe the world revolves around us, that people are constantly thinking about us, critiquing us, accusing us, judging us, purposely withholding the love we deserve. It’s a terrible spiral into despair as you recognize you will never get the affirmation you desire by pursuing it.
Counterintuitively, the way we achieve the satisfaction of any of our longings, is not by pursuing their satisfaction, but by pursuing Christ’s glory. Seek first the kingdom of God and all these things will be added to you (Matt. 6:33). Do you need food and water? Pursue Jesus. Do you long for marital bliss? Make Jesus your treasure. Do you want to be beautiful? Share Jesus!
Paul tells us that the feet of those who preach the gospel are beautiful. Feet are not typically something that we shower praise on. But God, in his wisdom and kindness, is telling us that he is calling beautiful what normally does not receive such affirmation. We are not beautiful in ourselves. Our work is not praiseworthy. Much of what we do goes unnoticed. But when we share Jesus with others, then we get that praise we long for.
It’s not by pursuing beauty that we become beautiful, but by pursuing Jesus’s glory all around us that we become beautiful too. Jesus gives us the affirmation we wish others would give us. Then we don’t become beggars for affirmation FROM others, but instead we become conduits of love TO them.
Brothers and sisters, in Christ you are already beautiful. You have all the affirmation you need in his love. And you become more beautiful by sharing his love, proclaiming his gospel, practicing his forgiveness. In that you will find yourself more satisfied, more content, less of an affirmation junkie desperate for someone to affirm you.
The next time you find yourself longing for love, the next time you are having that internal argument practicing defending yourself, the next time you are upset that you aren’t getting the affirmation you desire, the next time you fear that everyone is looking at you thinking of how ugly you are, what a failure you are, return to Christ and pass his love on to those around you. Then you will be beautiful.
Amazed by the glory of Christ in you,
Adam and the elders