(Lov) // "Oh, Thy Word!"

The number 7 is the number of "completion" in the Bible.  So, to honor the completion of the 7th day of my project, I decided to read to my Husband from God's Word! For a married couple who love the Lord, I don't think there is a sweeter sound than hearing the voice of your spouse read from the Bible. As a young girl, it became a tradition in my family that I read the "Christmas Story" aloud on Christmas Eve.  I thought it a good choice for this evening, given the theme and nature of the project.  And here is what I read:

Luke 2

 ¹And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be taxed.

 ²(And this taxing was first made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria.)

 ³And all went to be taxed, every one into his own city.

 ⁴And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judaea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem; (because he was of the house and lineage of David:)

 ⁵To be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child.

 ⁶And so it was, that, while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered.

 ⁷And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn.

 ⁸And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.

 ⁹And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid.

 ¹⁰And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.

 ¹¹For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.

 ¹²And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.

 ¹³And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying,

 ¹⁴Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.

 ¹⁵And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another, Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us.

 ¹⁶And they came with haste, and found Mary, and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger.

 ¹⁷And when they had seen it, they made known abroad the saying which was told them concerning this child.

 ¹⁸And all they that heard it wondered at those things which were told them by the shepherds.

 ¹⁹But Mary kept all these things, and pondered them in her heart.

 ²⁰And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, as it was told unto them.

 ²¹And when eight days were accomplished for the circumcising of the child, his name was called JESUS, which was so named of the angel before he was conceived in the womb.

 ²²And when the days of her purification according to the law of Moses were accomplished, they brought him to Jerusalem, to present him to the Lord;

 ²³(As it is written in the law of the LORD, Every male that openeth the womb shall be called holy to the Lord;)

 ²⁴And to offer a sacrifice according to that which is said in the law of the Lord, A pair of turtledoves, or two young pigeons.

 ²⁵And, behold, there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon; and the same man was just and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel: and the Holy Ghost was upon him.

 ²⁶And it was revealed unto him by the Holy Ghost, that he should not see death, before he had seen the Lord's Christ.

 ²⁷And he came by the Spirit into the temple: and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him after the custom of the law,

 ²⁸Then took he him up in his arms, and blessed God, and said,

 ²⁹Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word:

 ³⁰For mine eyes have seen thy salvation,

 ³¹Which thou hast prepared before the face of all people;

 ³²A light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel.

Brendan and I hold the belief that the King James Bible is  God’s inspired and preserved word without error in English, to the exclusion of all other English versions. Next to Jesus Christ himself, it is what we value above all things. What makes the Bible so very special is that it is the ONLY way in which God has, can, and will communicated HIS truth to us (you and me). It is documented proof of how much God loves us, a mirror in which we can honestly see ourselves (sinner's in need of a Saviour), and a testament to how (through the blood of Christ) we are saved and redeemed. For Brendan and I, it is our foundation and the final authority. Without it, we would not know the Lord, and without the Lord we would be lost in our sins and without hope...for "faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God." Romans 10:17.   

We also believe that "Christmas" is a man made holiday and don't choose to honor it as if it were a God ordained day to celebrate the birth of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.  Rather, we choose to celebrate Christ's birth, death, burial and resurrection every day through Bible study, the sharing of the gospel, and by being ambassadors as we that are saved are called to be. We glory in the opportunity to share the Faith of Christ ALWAYS, with anyone who has ears to hear...even during "Christmas".   

(Lov)e,

-k.

(Ed) // God's Way.

Since beauty it is one of the main topics I will be blogging about, I wanted to establish what exactly I believe about beauty so that I can write about it with honesty and clarity. One of my favorite things to do are studies on words that I use all the time, but if pressed would find it difficult to give an accurate definition. When I speak, I want to choose words that express my intentions with exactness. Word studies help me better understand the language I use and help me to become more effective in communicating my ideas and intentions.

I usually look up a word on Google first.  This lets me know what people, at this exact moment in time, believe this word to mean.  The definition of Beauty as defined by wikipedia is:  a characteristic of a person, animal, place, object, or idea that provides a perceptual experience of pleasure, meaning, or satisfaction.

Now that I know what the world says of this word, I want to know what God says.

The next place i go is to my Blue Letter Bible App... 

THEN I get out my King James Bible and I ask...   

What does God think of this word? What does he find beautiful? What brings Him pleasure or satisfaction?  

These are the verses that seemed to speak to answering these questions... 

 
Ecclesiastes 3:11   He hath made every thing beautiful in his time: also he hath set the world in their heart, so that no man can find out the work that God maketh from the beginning to the end.

He hath made EVERY THING beautiful.  Did you catch that?  Hath is the third person singular present tense of have. To have something is to be in possession of it.  So, According to God's word, all things are beautiful in his time! God's time has no bound and what will be done has already been done in the infinite realm of God. We might not perceive it as beautiful now, but all things are made beautiful by God; the beauty of it be reveled in His time. So cool.
 
Romans 10:15   And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!

Amen! If you look at the context, what God is actually finding beautiful in this verse is the preaching of the gospel of peace! I can always KNOW I am in God's will, loving Him, and bringing honor to my position as ambassador when I am sharing with someone my peace, how the Gospel of God's grace in Jesus Christ saved me...and now I also know it to God, it is a thing of beauty.

Sharing the Gospel IS beautiful!  How that while the world was dead in sin, Jesus Christ died on the cross to pay the price for that sin. He was buried, raised and it is through believing on Him that we can stand justified, reconciled, and redeemed before God in Christ!  To those that are His, these are the most beautiful words they will ever hear and have the honor to tell someone else.

Moving on...

In Ezekiel 28:12 Satan is described as:  "the sum, full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty."
 

Ezekiel 28:17  Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty, thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness: I will cast thee to the ground, I will lay thee before kings, that they may behold thee.

Satan, who was perfect in beauty allowed the brightness of his beauty to corrupt his wisdom... and so he became a fool; exalting himself above the God who created Him. Beauty, when it does not shine forth from a thankful heart that reflects the light of it's source, can corrupt the wisdom of a man and darken his heart leaving him a fool with his vanity. 

Proverbs 31:30   Favour is deceitful, and beauty is vain: but a woman that feareth the LORD, she shall be praised.

Beauty IS vain when (like Satan's beauty) it is empty, darkened by corruption and focused on exalting self. When I am proud, rather than grateful or when I am puffed up with a high opinion of myself or my accomplishments, then I am conceited and my beauty is vain. It is only when my beauty is something for which I am thankful that it can be made FULL by being used to reflect light onto the truth of God. If, in pride, I begin to admire my own beauty, the brightness no longer reflects that light onto God, like Satan, it's brightness will blind me and corrupt my wisdom making it (in the big scheme of things) worthless, having no substance, value or importance. There is a beauty that is found in the corruptible but the beauty found in the incorruptible is the beauty of God himself!

Often with the word 'beauty' we use other words like - true, inner, or real. This suggests that beauty needs a qualifier to say..."HEY, there is something to me that is beyond your perceptions!" I think the reason we need and use these qualifiers is because we know that there is physical beauty and a beauty without form that is experienced rather than seen; a higher kind of beauty. Beauty that is found in truth.

When I told Brendan what I was blogging about last night he said that He always used to tell people and stills believes that it is our life's mission to perpetuate beauty.  "Just be honest so that you provoke others to honesty. When you see beauty that is around you and give it more strength by recognizing it as the truth. It then can move forward."  I loved how he immediately associated beauty and truth.  Satan is beautiful, but he has no true beauty because he is "the father of lies" and has "no truth in him" (John 8:44).  He looks good, but only on the outside.  What comes to mind is a scene for the movie I'm Gonna Get You Sucka where Jake Slade is about to have relations with a "beautiful" women. Take a look  at this scene that perfectly illustrates that what we perceive as beauty can be (under the surface) dark, empty, ugly and a lie. Very funny but adult in nature.

God's beauty is a beauty made whole through truth! The world's beauty is a empty beauty that is only able to appeal to the flesh.   The beauty of God is complete...inside and out; a more excellent beauty that can appeal to the soul!

I work with my hands and mold the physical or an image of the physical for a living. The "beauty" industry is, just like every other industry, a battlefield. But I do not wrestle or fight my battles in the physical (trying to force the world to not be worldly), but rather I fright within the realm of the spiritual... using the bible and prayer (see Ephesians 6:12-20).

All my work has the potential to be either in vain or in truth.  It is my intention a stylist (and a blogger) to bring God honor and glory with the work of my hands; letting His truth guide me in better revealing the beauty that he has placed in everyone. An ambassador for God's beauty...

All I can do is stay grounded in Christ, choose the more excellent way, and pray that the vain beauty of my work (and it's concentration on the physical) is made whole with Godly truth...for it is the only way to make it valuable.

God's way. Ain't it a beauty?

(Lov)e,

-k.