We heard it straight from Meghan Trainor: Every inch of us is perfect. One Direction once told me the way I light up the world and flip my hair is what makes me beautiful. Beyoncé continues to remind me that I woke up like this, flawless. Even when I was in middle school, I had the dreamy Jesse McCartney saying that he doesn’t want a pretty face, he just wants my beautiful soul.
That’s all I can ask for right? Small attempts in reminding me that who I am is enough?
I don’t know about you, but a cool pop song will never be enough. I can jam to those songs in my car, but at the end of the day, I still struggle. I struggle with wondering if I’ll look old enough compared to other people my age. I struggle with wondering if my hair or outfit will look good at an event. Sometimes I even struggle with waking up in the morning, going over to the mirror, and instantly thinking that I look great.
I know what it’s like to try and remind yourself day after day that what other people think of you doesn’t matter and that you are who you are, regardless. I still fail. A lot. I try to hide it sometimes and hope that people will be ignorant to the fact that I struggle. Don’t get me wrong, I love my life and who I am created to be. I just think it’s about time that I stop hiding that inner battle. It’s easy to tell myself that I’m alone in this, but I have to know that I’m not.
With all of that being said, let’s recognize that everything I have said is centered on myself. All the focus is on me and that’s my biggest problem.
Hebrews 12:2 tells us, “We must focus our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith.”
As hard as it may be, first we need to take our eyes off of ourselves. God’s word literally tell us that He will make us perfect {complete and without flaw}…but first, we have to reset our eyes, hearts, and thoughts toward Jesus. Next, we need to start believing that what God says about us is true. We know that God cannot lie {Numbers 23:19}, therefore, if God tells you that you are beautifully made {Psalm 139:14}, you are. You are the Lord’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works {Ephesians 2:10}. How neat is that?
Imagine a sculpture who puts so much time into thinking about what they are going to create. They imagine where they will place the beautiful sculpture in their house, who will see it and delight in it, and of course what it will look like. We have someone who did that with us. To go a step further, the Creator and King of all things glorious and beautiful did that with us. He sat time after time, slowly and precisely planning out every part of your inner and OUTER being. When you look to Him, you are radiant {Psalm 34:5}. I love that word, radiant, because it describes a beauty far past what is on the outside. To me, it says that our hearts will overflow and shine with the love of the Lord, relaying that beauty outward.
A long time ago, a king was born. He lived a perfect life and spent his life healing, helping, and loving anyone and everyone. Then, He got up on a cross for me and you. He endured embarrassment, unimaginable pain, and the loneliness from the first time being separated from his Father. Nails impaled his hands and feet, and He wore a crown of thorns in hope that I would no longer hurt. His body ached and his heart broke on a cross so that I would no longer have to look in the mirror and be displeased. Our Heavenly Father, in all his worth and majesty, gave up everything to look down at me and you to say, “You are worth it.”
You see, everything we struggle with was nailed up on that cross with Jesus. Then Jesus said the words, “It is finished.” Insecurity? Finished. Doubt? Finished. Uncertainty about who we are? Finished. Done. No more. He took the pain from our hands so that we could be, in His eyes, perfect. When we sing about the battle Jesus won and that He is forever victorious, sometimes I think He is trying to tell me that THIS inner battle of mine has already been won. I am not saying that you or I will never struggle again, because we will. Now we just know without a doubt that the lies of Satan are worthless and have no power over us anymore.
The sweetest thing about struggling with something is that it leaves cracks in us. Every time we are broken, that is more room for Christ to come in, fill our cracks, and make us whole. I don’t want to be whole alone, I want to be whole because Jesus makes me that way.
