Christ’s Love Makes Us Beautiful

By:
Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth
Perspective:
header for Christ’s Love Makes Us Beautiful

Women love beauty. We enjoy the process of adorning ourselves and our environment.

Shopping for the clothes, makeup, or jewelry that will help us look our best.

Picking paint and accessories to make our homes more welcoming or comfortable or fashionable.

Carefully garnishing the food we put on the table.

Dressing our little ones in cute outfits.

Adding those special touches that make our surroundings, our relationships, and our activities a little more beautiful and personal and fun. There’s just something about assembling and creating beauty that’s deeply satisfying.

A Deep Longing

“God has placed us here on earth as ambassadors of the gospel of Christ.”

And feeling beautiful—that’s a longing deep in many women’s hearts that has spawned and fueled countless industries.

I’ve never considered myself to be particularly beautiful in a physical sense. It’s not that I think I’m unattractive or that I think there’s something wrong with physical beauty. It’s just not something I’ve focused on a whole lot. Mindful of the fleeting, deceptive nature of external beauty, I’ve tried to focus on cultivating the kind of beauty that can’t be photographed (or photoshopped)—beauty of character and the heart.

Yet I can still remember how my heart skipped a beat the first time Robert told me I was beautiful.

Adorned With Another’s Love

I grew up in a loving home with a dad who adored me. I’ve been blessed to have many good, kind men in my life. It’s possible my memory has failed me. But prior to that point, I cannot recall ever hearing a man say to me, “You’re beautiful.”

Robert kept telling me I was beautiful. He really seemed to mean it. And gradually I began to believe that he truly saw me that way—even when I had just finished working out at the gym, even on days when I hadn’t taken time to apply makeup or fix my hair. As our court- ship progressed, I told a friend, “I don’t think there is anything I could do that would make him love me less or think I’m less beautiful.”

But I also noticed that something even more significant was happening. As the persistent, gentle love of this man took root in my heart, it had a tenderizing, beautifying effect. In fact, to my amazement, people began to comment on my new “glow.” Over and over again on my wedding day, friends said to me, “You’re so beautiful!”

I say this not to shine a spotlight on myself, but to make the observation that to be adorned with another’s love is to develop a greater capacity to reflect love and beauty to others.

You see, God has placed us here on earth as ambassadors of the gospel of Christ. And our calling as His followers is to make His love and His truth visible and believable—and beautiful—to skeptical observers.

Because they see it in us. Because they see it changing us. His love making us beautiful. Adorning us.

And, through us, adorning His gospel.

For Further Reading:

Adorned

by Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth

Known for her wisdom, warmth, and knowledge of Scripture, Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth has encouraged millions through her books, radio programs, and...

book cover for Adorned