Beauty Through The Gospel

Devotion: Beauty Through The Gospel

For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die—but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5:6-8 ESV



Have you ever seen a picture of a beautiful celebrity without makeup? They look average, normal or even down right awful. But when we see them on TV and in the movies they are larger than life and seemingly spotless. But the images we see are fabrications, the actors and actresses are painted with makeup and placed in ideal lighting situations. Sure, Leonardo Di Caprio is a good looking guy in any light, but a false beauty is created in the cinematic world.

Now, let’s see the Gospel picture for what it really is instead of altering and modifying reality as movies do. We are not saved because of what we’ve done, but in spite of it. We are not beautiful without Jesus, but hopelessly marred by sin. We are like celebrities with no makeup, no physical trainer, no personal chef or personal hygiene. But rather than let that truth sink into us, we can make up our own little movie where we are the hero (we never sin, never gossip, always read our Bible, and join all the ministries at church) and look perfect. Jesus turns into some sort of sidekick that wants to be our friend and help us. We must remember to no play the hero and put on the makeup. The only hero in this real life movie can and must be Jesus!

Even though we are sinful and rebellious God still loves us. This is the Gospel, that while we were still sinners Jesus died for us. When we understand this it helps us see the way things really are. King Jesus is eternally perfect and beautiful and we are not, but he loves us anyway and makes us like him. He started it and he’s going to finish it. When we understand the true Gospel instead of making up our own, we are free to love and worship Jesus as Savior instead of trying to play that role ourselves.

Remember, we are like a no makeup celebrity photo. We can paint ourselves pretty on the outside, but only Jesus makes us eternally beautiful.