When you think about image, do you ever say to yourself: I would feel better about myself if I was prettier, was a different body shape, had longer legs, had nicer hair, had better skin and had boyfriend, because let’s face it I just don’t look like my friends or other girls who are much more beautiful than me!
These are thoughts that I have struggled with for years, we all have insecurities, but about four years ago my walk with God changed dramatically and God has done a lot of work in my heart to destroy those insecurities in me that the world would have me tortured with!
However, a few weeks ago while doing recording a video devotion for church, after a few takes to get it right, and watching it back, I will confess that as soon as I saw it all of my insecurities came crashing down on me, straight away my thoughts went to… “look at yourself – you’re not beautiful – no wonder you are single – you can’t even look at yourself so why would anyone else want to – you need to lose weight – others girls look so much better than you…” and yes this was not a pleasant experience to go through and thankfully it passed quickly.
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A great example of beauty in the Bible is Esther. The Persian King Xerses wanted a new wife and when he had his choice of who to crown as his new Queen, it was Esther whose beauty radiated and captured his attention more than anyone else. But when you look at the whole story of Esther, while yes she was absolutely beautiful, but what shines out more than her outer beauty is the inner beauty of her character and her purpose for God, as Queen, to save her people from death. I would encourage you to spend some time reading the story of Esther and rather than just seeing her outward beauty, when you look deeper you will find a young woman in difficult and dangerous circumstances who is full of grace, humility, faithfulness, wisdom and courage.
Esther is a great example of how God sees us and the Bible is full of verses and stories of how beautiful you truly are:
- “So God created human beings in his own image. In the image of God, he created them; male and female he created them.” Genesis 1 v 27
- “I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful; I know that full well.” Psalm 139 v 14
- “What is the price of two sparrows – one copper coin? But not a single sparrow can fall to the ground without you Father knowing it. And the very hairs on your head are all numbered. So don’t be afraid; you are more valuable to God than a whole flock of sparrows” Matthew 10 v 29-31
- “But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.” Romans 5 v 7
So where you are sitting right now have a brief think about all the negative things you think about yourself… now I want you to imagine the Eiffel Tower and on the tower running from the top of it to the very bottom is a really, really, really long scroll of paper. At the top of that scroll of paper, you see your name written on it and then as you look below your name and go down the paper you find a list of all the good things about you, the list is endless. And as you continue reading down the list you see a man who is writing all of these lovely things about you that you know make you who you are… That man is God!
You are so much more than what the world says you are or says you should be to fit in! Because of God you have more worth, value and beauty than you can ever know, so let that be the still small voice that whispers in your ear to battle your insecurities for you. Know you are the daughter of the King of Kings!