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March 19, 2010
Authentic Beauty
Charm is deceitful and beauty is passing, but a woman who fears the Lord, she shall be praised. —Proverbs 31:30
I often take a moment as I wait at our grocery store checkout stand to scan the covers of the magazines displayed there. It seems that if they aren’t about sex and money, they’re about diet, fitness, health, and outward beauty. There’s nothing there for the soul.
The problem is that people read the wrong magazines—those that are full of lies that fixate on beauty of face and form as though that’s all there is. This can lead to comparison and terrible despair.
Some years ago, a friend of mine told of a conversation he had with a lovely, self-assured teenager. “You’re very self-confident,” he observed. “Can you tell me why?” “Yes,” the young woman answered. “It’s because I’m so pretty.” “Oh, I’m sorry,” he said with extraordinary wisdom. “Why?” she asked in surprise. “Because,” he replied, “you may not always be pretty.”
“Charm is deceitful and beauty is passing” is the wisdom we read in Proverbs 31. Physical beauty all too quickly fades away; all one’s efforts to keep it are doomed to fail. But there is an inner beauty—authentic beauty that will endure forever—in the one “who fears the Lord” (v.30).
Let the beauty of Jesus be seen in me—
All His wonderful passion and purity!
O Thou Spirit divine, all my nature refine,
Till the beauty of Jesus be seen in me. —Orsborn
Righteousness in the heart produces beauty in the character.
emphasis ..
““Charm is deceitful and beauty is passing” is the wisdom we read in Proverbs 31. Physical beauty all too quickly fades away; all one’s efforts to keep it are doomed to fail. But there is an inner beauty—authentic beauty that will endure forever—in the one “who fears the Lord” (v.30).
Let the beauty of Jesus be seen in me—
All His wonderful passion and purity!
O Thou Spirit divine, all my nature refine,
Till the beauty of Jesus be seen in me. —Orsborn
Righteousness in the heart produces beauty in the character.”
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The prince of this world (satan) continues to use his powers to deceive and lie to man. It is all around us, on TV in the mores of our society, in our history, in our schools, ...
We are besieged on every side continually. Abortion, living together unmarried, denying God exists. Ridiculing Christianity and the bible as myths, Saying, you are too smart to believe myths. Aids, homosexuality, white collar crimes, Disrespect of parents. Sex and drugs and rock and roll and all it promotes.
Ling, stealing, hating, coveting, ...
Nothing new. Same ole same ole.
be like Job ... read his story.
and
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Job 2
1.Again there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan came also among them to present himself before the LORD.
2.And the LORD said unto Satan, From whence comest thou? And Satan answered the LORD, and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it.
3.And the LORD said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil? and still he holdeth fast his integrity, although thou movedst me against him, to destroy him without cause.
4.And Satan answered the LORD, and said, Skin for skin, yea, all that a man hath will he give for his life.
5.But put forth thine hand now, and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will curse thee to thy face.
6.And the LORD said unto Satan, Behold, he is in thine hand; but save his life.
7.So went Satan forth from the presence of the LORD, and smote Job with sore boils from the sole of his foot unto his crown.
8.And he took him a potsherd to scrape himself withal; and he sat down among the ashes.
9.Then said his wife unto him, Dost thou still retain thine integrity? curse God, and die.
10.But he said unto her, Thou speakest as one of the foolish women speaketh. What? shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil? In all this did not Job sin with his lips.
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We tend to believe the good and ignore the evil.. MO
Father God help us in our day, in Jesus name, amen.
