Can you see the beauty of holiness in yourself?
When I was a senior in college, I took a black and white photography class. The professor taught us how to make black and white slides so the whole class could see examples of everyone’s work.
While showing the slides at the beginning of each class, he would explain composition, how the direction the light is coming from changes the picture, and a bunch of technical stuff.
When he came across an image that was really good, he would stop and explain what made it a successful photograph.
I’ll never forget one afternoon, he showed a slide of a huge pile of black plastic trash bags piled upon a city sidewalk in Nashville, TN. That’s where I went to college.
He absolutely gushed about how amazingly beautiful this photograph was. We kind of rolled our eyes at first. But he went on and on for about 10 minutes, exclaiming about the angle the light hit the trash bags and how it lit up all the folds and crinkles in the bags with these rich gray and sliver tones.
Actually, he had a good point, but after a while it seemed he was going a little bit overboard. I mean really, when you see a pile of trash bags on the sidewalk waiting to be picked up by the Sanitation Department do you get all excited about how beautiful they are?
But then he made a comment that brought it all together. He said the beauty was not in the trash bags. It wasn’t in the way the light hit them at just the right angle, the way they were arranged, or the composition of the photo, although those things were all important.
To see beauty, you must have beauty in yourself
He said the real beauty was in the person who took the picture. If you don’t have beauty in yourself, you can’t see beauty, true beauty, anywhere.
I’ve thought about this over the years and have realized this is a powerful spiritual precept.
The world defines beauty as the outward appearance of something. It’s something external. And some people go to great lengths to improve, change, and make more beautiful their bodies, their homes, their gardens, their surroundings. There’s nothing wrong with that in and of itself.
But if you think beauty is just the way something or someone looks on the surface, you have missed the real meaning of beauty.
In light of all this, I’ve been thinking about what the Bible says about beauty and how it’s an integral part of God’s nature and creation.
What is beauty anyway? As I said it’s not just the outward appearance of things. Beauty is a quality of God.
The beauty of the Lord
I love this verse. from Psalms.
One thing I ask from the LORD, this only do I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze on the beauty of the LORD and to seek him in his temple. Psalm 27:4 NIV
This verse speaks to me on a very deep level.
But how do you see the beauty of God? God is Spirit. The human eye cannot see the full spiritual spectrum of God’s beauty. But your spiritual eyes, your ability to discern things spiritually, can.
What is God’s beauty? So many things: His holiness, love, mercy, compassion, magnificence, intimacy, His dependability. And so much more. All these qualities of God are His beauty.
To gaze on the beauty of the Lord, as the psalm says, means to ponder these qualities of God’s nature.
The beauty of holiness
And the more you consider and deeply appreciate the beauty of God’s nature, you’ll realize you’re doing exactly what David describes,
Give unto the LORD the glory due unto his name; worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness. Psalm 29:2 KJV
The more you ponder and appreciate these qualities of God’s nature, the more you’re actually worshiping God in one of the most intimate ways possible.
And the more you do this, you begin to realize that as God’s image and likeness, you reflect every single one of God’s qualities. That means you are the image and likeness of all God’s beauty.
This doesn’t mean you have to look like some glamorous celebrity. It simply means you reflect spiritually the beauty of God.
God’s beauty is on us
Here’s another verse from Psalms I love.
And let the beauty of the LORD our God be upon us: and establish thou the work of our hands upon us; yea, the work of our hands establish thou it. Psalm 90:17 KJV
It’s not your own beauty. It’s God’s beauty that you’re reflecting.
And once you see this in yourself, you’ll start seeing it in everyone you meet.
This is what Jesus did everywhere he went, with whoever he was talking to. I would imagine that not all of the people Jesus talked to thought of themselves as beautiful. But Jesus saw their beauty, their inner spiritual beauty.
The Messiah brings beauty
In fact, Isaiah prophesied the Messiah would bring beauty to those he ministered to.
The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me, because the LORD has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the LORD’s favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn, and provide for those who grieve in Zion— to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the LORD for the display of his splendor. Isaiah 61:1-3 NIV
Jesus certainly fulfilled this prophecy. When he met people the world would call far from beautiful, Jesus saw their God-given beauty. Where everyone else saw a leper with an ugly skin disease, Jesus saw the beauty of God’s image and likeness. Where others saw a cripple or disfigured person, Jesus saw the beauty of holiness and the beauty of wholeness.
Where others saw the disgusting effects of sin in people’s lives, Jesus saw their original beauty of purity and innocence created in the image and likeness of God.
When Jesus looked at or interacted with someone, he wasn’t just looking at their outward appearance in order to see their beauty. In fact, he told his followers at one point,
Stop judging by mere appearances, but instead judge correctly. John 7:24 NIV
Look beneath the surface so you can judge correctly. John 7:24 NLT
Trying to see the beauty of holiness everywhere
Now, you may be thinking: Hey James, this all sounds pretty good, but sometimes I have a hard time looking beneath the surface when a person or a situation is scary or gets ugly.
Well, I totally understand. It can be challenging to see God’s beauty in someone when the material picture is telling you the exact opposite.
But I encourage you to make the effort. It really boils down to whether you are loving someone or not. When you love someone, and I’m talking agape love, the spiritual love that Jesus had for us and wants us to have for each other, you’ll see their beauty. You see the beauty of who they are as a child of God. You see the beauty of the qualities of God they express. And this brings healing.
Years ago when I lived in New York City, I took the subway to work. One day, this big scary looking guy in black leather, studded with metal from head to toe, sat down across from me on the train. He was angry. He was loud. He cursed the world for how terrible and unfair it had treated him. His face was contorted with a whole lot of negativity. It was not a pretty sight.
I tried chatting with him, but he was in his own little world of criticism and anger. All I could do was pray. About once or twice a week I would see him on the train. And he usually was in one of his dark moods. But I kept praying to see what was beneath the surface, to see him as a child of God, made in God’s image and likeness, and that God loved him. And in this light, I got to where I felt a growing and genuine affection for this man.
I could see so clearly that this outward appearance he presented was not the way God had created him. We chatted a few times and I always tried to give him something positive to think about.
The man was changed
One day, when he got on the subway, he was a completely different person. He was still dressed in his intimidating black leather outfit. But there was a broad smile on his face and his demeanor had completely changed.
He said he wasn’t angry at the world anymore. Several people had shown him kindness and listened to him. And this made him reconsider his harsh opinions about the world and people in general.
He really was a different person. And there was a rugged beauty about him that had not been noticeable before.
Over the next few weeks we had some deep conversations and talked about God and spirituality. He shared his hopes for the future and some of the things he wanted to invent. He was an incredibly intelligent fellow and had some amazing insights on life that I really appreciated.
When I look back on this experience I realize God’s beauty of holiness was right there the whole time. Once I quit judging this man by his outward appearance, I began to see his beauty as a child of God. And I believe this contributed in some way to his transformation.
The light of Christ allows you to see the beauty of holiness
I want to come back to what my college professor said about the picture of the garbage bags. One of the things that made the photo so amazing was the angle of the light. If the student who took the picture had been there earlier or later in the day, the photo would not have been the same because the light would have been different.
This is a good metaphor for how to see beauty everywhere. When you look at people, places, and things in the light of God’s love, you’ll see everything very differently.
Jesus referred to himself as the light of the world. When you look at people and events with the light of Christ shining on them, you will bring healing to every situation.
And your life will be a fulfillment of this promise in Isaiah, just as Jesus was.
How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation, who say to Zion, “Your God reigns!” Isaiah 52:7 NIV
When you are imbued with this spirit of good news that God reigns, that God is supreme, this is a beautiful thing. It’s a ray of hope to those struggling in the world.
Seeing the beauty of holiness in yourself
Earlier I mentioned that we need to see this beauty in ourselves as well. It may be hard to see God’s beauty in someone like the guy I met on the subway, but sometimes it’s even harder to see our own spiritual beauty, partly because we know, better than anyone else, all the little ways we have not expressed the beauty of holiness.
Now this may not be a challenge for you. You may be very mature in your spiritual growth and have come to see and accept your beauty as a child of God.
But I know there are lots of folks who struggle with seeing themselves in this light. I certainly did, for many years in fact.
One time, years ago, I called a friend to pray for me and she told me to think of all the qualities and attributes of God I could come up with. Then I was supposed to open my eyes to the spiritual fact that as God’s image and likeness, I reflected each of these qualities from God.
I was really enjoying this approach to praying. I thought about God’s love, His goodness, His grace and mercy, His intelligence, and a whole lot more. I could not honestly say that I was perfect at expressing all these qualities, but I could see that spiritually it was possible.
But then I thought about God being beautiful. I stopped. I had never thought of myself as beautiful before and I’m talking about a spiritual sense of beauty here. It was hard for me to even think about. But I kept praying with the idea, and I finally realized that, even if I didn’t understand it or see it, it was still true that I reflected God’s beauty.
For the first time, I accepted this about myself. And I’m still catching clearer glimpses of God’s beauty in me.
This has given me a sense of peace and has helped me see the beauty of God reflected in everyone I meet, however they appear on the surface.
See the beauty of holiness in the world
We’ve been talking mostly about seeing God’s beauty reflected in other people and yourself, but what about seeing God’s beauty in the world. The more you accept and see God’s beauty in you, the more you will see it everywhere else. There are so many beautiful places in the world, full of God’s majesty, grandeur, light, and color.
There was another time when I called a different friend to pray for me about some challenge I was facing. She could see that I was pretty absorbed in the problem.
She told me to go somewhere way out in the country, out of town, and just look at nature to see how God would talk to me through the trees, the clouds, the sky, the grass, whatever was there.
I ended up going to a friend’s cabin away from town and sat on the porch most of the day, just looking for God’s beauty and listening for God’s voice. It was the most amazing time of communion with God. I pretty much let go of the problem I had and just thought about God for hours. It was a real turning point for me.
When I think back on this experience reminds me of this verse,
You will go out in joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and hills will burst into song before you, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands. Isaiah 52:11 NIV
All I could see was God’s beauty everywhere. The beauty of the trees, the hills, the white billowing clouds were just a hint of the grander spiritual beauty of holiness which I felt.
I came home that day a different person. I felt touched by God’s holiness. I felt included in and part of the beauty of God’s entire creation.
Sharing the beauty of holiness with others
It was a wonderful experience. But the more I ponder this and other experiences when I have felt God’s presence, I realize that God is not showing me these things just for my own benefit. He wants me to share His beauty with and to see His beauty in everyone I meet. And over the years, I have gotten better at this. In fact, The Bible Speaks to You Podcast is an outgrowth of this desire to share with you what God has shared with me.
The question now really is how all this applies to you. How often do you see and appreciate God’s beauty? Can you see God’s beauty in yourself and others, even when the outward appearance seems far from beautiful?
And what about the world, whether it’s your local world at work, at church, or in your community. Or the larger world of state, federal, and global events. Think about some of the challenges facing the world right now: corrupt governments, wars, poverty, pollution. The list goes on and on. These are the world’s trash bags on the sidewalk that need to be seen in the light of God’s love and beauty.
How can you and I shine the light of Christ, the most beautiful light in the world, on these ugly situations? It takes an awareness of the need to do it. And it requires not being so self-absorbed that you don’t even realize there is a need, or thinking there’s nothing you can do about it.
And then it’s a matter of simply loving and living the way Jesus did, seeing God’s beauty in each person you meet and in every situation you encounter. This necessarily includes seeing God’s beauty in yourself.
True beauty is not in a physical person or object. It’s not what you see with your eyeballs. It’s the qualities of God that you and everyone else reflect. You are the reflection of God’s beauty, the beauty of holiness. When you are conscious of your God-given beauty, then you can see this beauty everywhere and in everyone. And this brings healing to you and your world.
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James Early, the Jesus Mindset Coach, is a Bible teacher, speaker, and church mentor. He conducts Bible workshops online and in person. His focus is on getting back to the original Christianity of Jesus by embracing the mindset of Christ in daily life. Contact him here.
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Bible References
Psalm 27:4 NIV
4 One thing I ask from the LORD, this only do I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze on the beauty of the LORD and to seek him in his temple.
Psalm 29:2 KJV
2 Give unto the LORD the glory due unto his name; worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness.
Psalm 90:17 KJV
17 And let the beauty of the LORD our God be upon us: and establish thou the work of our hands upon us; yea, the work of our hands establish thou it.
Isaiah 61:1-3 NIV
1 The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me, because the LORD has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners,
2 to proclaim the year of the LORD’s favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn,
3 and provide for those who grieve in Zion— to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the LORD for the display of his splendor.
John 7:24 NIV
24 Stop judging by mere appearances, but instead judge correctly.
John 7:24 NLT
24 Look beneath the surface so you can judge correctly.
Isaiah 52:7 NIV
7 How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation, who say to Zion, “Your God reigns!”
Isaiah 52:11 NIV
11 You will go out in joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and hills will burst into song before you, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands.
