Luke 1: ‘Upon entering Gabriel greeted her:
(Mary) ‘Good morning! You are beautiful with God’s beauty, Beautiful inside and out!
God be with you.’
She was thoroughly shaken, wondering what was behind a greeting like that.’
‘You are beautiful with God’s beauty, Beautiful inside and out’!
What a greeting! What a compliment, and the fact it came from the angel Gabriel suggests to me that the comment was real, genuine, not one of those sugary sweet, full of flannel comments that some people are inclined to give us when perhaps they are trying to get us on side, get something from us they want. Yes Gabriel wanted a positive response from Mary – but his greeting was sincere.
We live in an age where appearance seems to be everything. We are weight conscious, figure conscious, beauty conscious. People are judged by what they look like and at times we are guilty of jumping to conclusions of what people are like simply because of their appearance. We are encouraged to buy this product to make us look younger … this hair colour to hide the grey … this pill to help us loose weight quickly and so it goes on. But surely all of this is so shallow. My Nan would say: ‘Beauty is only skin deep, it is what is on the inside that really counts’.
Gabriel said to Mary: ‘You are beautiful with God’s beauty … Beautiful inside and out’.
Oh that such a thing could genuinely be said of you and me. Isn’t this what holiness is all about?
‘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.’
SASB chorus section no. 77
Major Glad Ljungholm
Divisional Candidates Officer
Liverpool
'You are beautiful with God's beauty. Beautiful inside and out, Glad'
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