Beautiful people don’t just happen

Is that true? Is beauty a gift, talent, or a natural asset, or is it something that must be developed and forged over time?

In a recent marriage study at Grace, our speaker made the powerful declaration: “Beautiful people don’t just happen.” He was referring to the spectacular beauty of the Himalayan mountain ranges that emerged out of the millennia-long collision of the Indian and Eurasian Plates, and he compared it to you and me. He said that the true beauty in our lives manifests during times of conflict and collision, controversy and challenge.

I think he is right. My beauty as a husband shows most clearly when I am sacrificing and surrendering for Jessica, not when I am asserting my rights or defending my perspectives. And it is true for her too. Sacrificial, other-oriented love is always the most beautiful.

Imagine how dull or uninspiring a love story would be if there was no price to be paid and no battle for the heart? Imagine how unmoved we would be if the protagonists showed no interest in fighting for the people that they loved? It would hardly be a love story and it certainly wouldn’t be an epic.

And this goes way beyond marriage. True love in any form or level requires courageous acts of humility, selflessness, and service.

So, how beautiful are you? Here in Southern California, we obsess over our outer beauty, but how beautiful are you on the inside? How beautiful is your heart? How beautiful is your character? Your commitment? Your determination to fight for the people you love and live your greatest life possible for the glory of God?

Beautiful people don’t just happen; they become so as they become increasingly like Jesus amid the clamor and clash of everyday life.