The Gospel

Beautiful

I am sure that a lot of you have seen the Dove Real Beauty Sketches video that has been going around.

 This video is lovely. It is moving. It communicates an important message to females... but I contend that it is an incomplete message.

There have been both positive and negative reactions to the video. The people who love it say that it is important for girls to watch because it will boost their self-esteem. The tagline is "You are more beautiful than you think," and it points out that women are often their own biggest critics.

I agree. I am definitely my biggest critic, and I bask in affirmation from my mother, my sisters, or my fiance. I look in the mirror and see the parts of me that I want to tone up, the parts that I wish were bigger or smaller, and the parts that I wish were smoother and tanner.

So yes, I agree with those who love this video. It is affirming for girls who look in the mirror and only see the parts that they want to change.

Critics of the video say that while it is affirming, it still places beauty above all else- it makes the way you look paramount. The video affirms the belief that your appearance, rather than your character, your wit, your skills, or your efforts, is most important.

And so yes, I agree with those who criticize this video as well. It does place a high importance on appearance.

But I think that even affirming girls' character, wit, skills, or efforts, above or along with their beauty is not enough.

I think the truth is that no matter how we look- whether you are tall or short, dark skinned or pale skinned, young or old- we should not and cannot find our confidence in ourselves. 

I think the gospel, the truth, is that

We are uglier than we believe, 

and more loved than we can imagine.

That seems harsh doesn't it? Why do I think that? Why are we uglier? Why would we ever want to communicate to girls with fragile self esteem that they are uglier than they believe? 

We are uglier than we believe because no matter how we look, no matter how strong our character is, how clever our wit, how sharp our skills, or how constant our effort, we will never be enough. 

On our own, we are not enough. Even our best, our righteousness, is like ugly, dirty rags to God. Isaiah 64:6 says, 

All of us have become like one who is unclean,

and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags;

we all shrivel up like a leaf,

    and like the wind our sins sweep us away.

We are not enough. Our beauty nor our accomplishments make us enough. It is by God's grace and his grace alone that we "enough." Only through Him are we whole. 

That kind of evens the playing field doesn't it? Everyone is only saved by grace, not by anything we have done. 

But there is good news! The good news is that while we are ugly, while we are stuck in our sins, Christ died for us! We are more loved than we can ever imagine. 

That is where we find our affirmation. That is what is truly beautiful. God's infinite love for us goes beyond anything we can imagine. His thoughts toward us out number the sands. 

And that is what we can rest in. 

This is reassuring to me. Because while I have days that I feel beautiful, I have an equal number of days that I don't. And beauty fades! Eventually, Lord willing that I live this long, I will be old and wrinkly. I am so thankful that I do not have to place my value or find my worth in something so transient as my appearance. 

That being said I do not think it is wrong to be happy when someone tells you that you look pretty, or to work hard to accomplish something, but when how we look or what we've accomplished becomes the measuring stick for ourselves and for others, we have missed the point. We have missed the gospel. 



Hopefully these thoughts are encouraging to you! Have a lovely Tuesday.

xo, The Attic