Ever-increasing Beauty

Friends of mine have recently split up, and are beginning divorce proceedings. I dare say there are lots of reasons why marriages end, some of them valid. But this marriage break-up came as a surprise. They seemed to have everything. Good looks, good jobs, a great house. I don’t think this was all they had, though. They were genuinely in love. Yet something went wrong.

It’s not for me to speculate why people’s marriages don’t work out; this is something that must be thrashed out by the couples themselves. But we tend to choose our partners when they’re at their best. They’re often youthful, lively, in full health with career and familial prospects ahead of them. Twenty years later, and the looks are fading, and sadly, for so many, is the love.

Preparing for tomorrow’s message, I read the following verse with which most Christians are very familiar:

Romans 5:8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

God chose to begin a relationship with me when I was at my most undesirable. My heart was full of enmity towards Him and I was governed by my fallen, sinful nature. He did not wait for me to effect some kind of moral reformation, but chose me when I was at my worst. This is why the believer has security in Christ. Our salvation does not depend on our ability to impress Him, but His faithfulness and constancy. And unlike a pair of beautiful young things getting wed, the Christian’s inner beauty only ever gets brighter as we are made to be more like Christ.

1 John 3:2: Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.