I Am Beautiful Beyond Measure

Lie: Getting Older Is the Worst

You are altogether beautiful. — Song of Songs 4:7

Walking through Costco, I spotted a makeup mirror on sale and scooped it into my basket. But let me tell you a little something: this wasn’t an average mirror — it was a whopping, twenty-times-magnification mirror with a fancy fluorescent light. I rushed home, plugged in my new toy, flipped on the light, leaned close, and gasped at what I saw.

Every pore became a crater, every scar a deep indent, every blotch a dark stain. This magnification mirror made me look twenty times worse, twenty times older, and twenty times more likely to return my purchase. (Luckily, Costco has the world’s most gracious return policy.)

The aging process presents new challenges for all of us. Our metabolisms screech to a halt without warning. Crow’s feet march across our faces in a blink. Age spots arise out of nowhere. Body parts droop, sag, then drag. In a culture that glorifies youth, these changes can make us feel as if we’re losing our worth.

Yet as followers of Jesus, we are radiant at every age because the Lord’s presence is in us.

Moses experienced wondrous encounters with the Divine, from the burning bush to the Egyptian plagues. One of my favorites occurs when Moses climbs Mount Sinai and receives the Ten Commandments. He returns radiant. Everyone can see the divine glow, the favor and authority of God, on Moses (Exodus 34:29).

The radiance fades with time.

Moses has to encounter God again and again for another recharge of divine glory. The apostle Paul writes that this powerful leader veiled his face to prevent the Israelites from seeing the fading away (2 Corinthians 3:13).

Yet we are not like Moses.

You can scrap the veil because the radiance that fills you as a child of God does not fade. You are in Christ — the Light of the World — and the splendor of God resides in you.

If God held a magnifying mirror up to you, He would see Christ glorified in you. Unlike earthly mirrors that highlight imperfections, Christ in you is ever expanding and intensifying.

Paul continues:

And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into His image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit. — 2 Corinthians 3:18

The presence of Christ makes you glow in every age and stage. The life of Christ makes you luminous. The light of Christ makes you radiant. This is who you are each day. No amount of wrinkles can change that. You are beautiful beyond measure.

Declaration: I am beautiful beyond measure.

Excerpted with permission from More Power to You by Margaret Feinberg, copyright Margaret Feinberg.

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Your Turn

Do you feel beautiful? (Not many of us do.) Do you feel beautiful beyond measure? (Does anybody out there feel that way?) The good news is that in Christ, we bear His reflection! It glows from within. Tell us about someone who literally glows with Jesus. We want to hear from you! ~ Devotionals Daily