A Mark of Beauty

This past weekend I attended the opening night of the movie “The Artist”, a new silent film, and it was FABULOUS. I must admit that it took a few minutes to adjust to the actors not talking but once the adjustment was made it was really fun. At the beginning of the movie the seasoned silent film actor meets the new girl on the set and to set her apart from the other girls he takes a make-up pencil and adds a beauty mark to her face.  A delicate little black dot sat above her lip and became one of her trademarks, a distinguishing feature, throughout her acting career.  

In the Old Testament the Israelites, were set apart by God. As they wandered in the wilderness God led them by a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. In Exodus 33:12- 17, Moses is speaking to the Lord about not wanting to go anywhere without God leading him. Moses desired to be with God, to be taught God’s ways and to please God. In verse 16, Moses says ”How will anyone know that you are pleased with me and your people unless you go with us?" What else will distinguish me and your people from all the other people on the face of the earth?” (emphasis mine) the pillar of cloud or fire would be a visible distinguishing mark that they pleased God.

This got me thinking about   my distinguishing mark?  Do I even have it?  As I go through my life DO people see anything different about me that sets me apart as being pleasing to God? What do people see when they look at me? Do I look like everyone else in the crowd or do i look like someone that is glorifying God?   

Now don’t get me wrong here I am not suggesting that we need to make our outward appearance be so different that we stand out as being odd or anything like that.  However, we are instructed to dress modestly, and with the way people dress today, THAT alone would set us apart enough!  I am talking about  a beauty that is more than skin deep. If we are being led by the Presence of God in our lives then we should look different. We should have a distinguishing feature.

Radiance!!!! Radiance is what should be our distinguishing feature. If we spend time in an intimate relationship with God, we will glow. The Message says in Exodus 34:29 “the skin of his face glowed because he had been speaking with God”. Our faces should glow as a young bride in love with her groom. We shouldn’t need some sparkling gpowder to give our skin the radiance that we are different from all the people on the face of the earth, we just need MORE of God in our lives!!!

So let's  get our glow on ladies!!!

1 Spend time every day in the Presence of God, worship HIM with abandon in your cars, in your kitchens, in your churches and everywhere you go. Think about your facial and body expressions and evaluate if  they display love or boredom? We wouldn’t think of telling someone special in our lives that we love them with an expressionless face. So when you worship SHOW Him along with the words you use! “you will fill me with joy in your presence” (Psalm 16:11b) The JOY of spending time with God will be evident to all.

2 Spend time in His Word, read it, ponder it, recite it, write it, talk about it, pray it. Saturate your life with the Word of God like a moisturizer for your soul.  You will glow from the inside out.

3. Cultivate Praise in your life. It is difficult to frown when you are praising God for even the smallest of blessings or simply for who He is. Praising will turn that frown upside down.  Scripture tell us that “A cheerful look brings joy to the heart and good news gives health to the bones.” (Proverbs 15:30).Tthere are health benefits to living a life of praise!

Let the glow of God be your distinguishing mark of a beauty­ full life. Start today. Start right this very minute. What better way to start off the week!!!

Take this beauty­­-full life challenge to put your glow on!   Send me a comment and let me know how it goes this week as you CHOOSE to glow for God. 

And while you are at it share with me and our friends here at Living  Beauty- Full  about the women in your life that wear their beauty mark from God. Go ahead and give them a shout out because if they are at all like Moses they have no idea that they are a radiant beauty.

Joyfully,

ruthann