Holiness Makes You Beautiful

[Ramez5]

Your statutes, Lord, stand firm;
holiness adorns your house
for endless days.
Psalm 93:5

Do you ever wonder what God's house would look like? I find my heart drawn...to imagine his courts.. his pillars.. his porches.. and wonder.. I'd like to sit by a fountain in his courtyard, and listen to the sound of the droplets falling into the pool.

I find myself wanting to walk with him along cool, green, fragrant garden paths and to sit quietly on a bench near his walls...just chatting with him about the things on our heart

but that is not for now..at least not in a physical sense.

David often talked about his longing for God's house...just to be a little closer to him. In fact he said....

A single day in your courts is better than a thousand anywhere else! I would rather be a gatekeeper in the house of my God than live the good life in the homes of the wicked. Psalm 84:10

But in some ways, we can have that now. You see we have a temple where we can walk, talk, sit and sup with our Lord... but that house needs cleaning sometimes.. if we want it to be truly beautiful.

I know I talk a lot about sin.. seems like every day. But it just so happens that that is what the Lord talks to me about so much.. It might seem a negative thing in our 'positive thinking' self-esteem oriented culture. You might think I am 'down on myself'.. but .. well.. yes.. .. just not the way you might imagine.

Since I know I am bad already lol.. I am at peace with that 'idea'.

What I love so much!... and am so grateful for is that the Lord cares enough for me to want to remove those things that might come between us.

He wants us (his house) to be beautiful.. and sin, frankly, is ugly.

Here's what Barnes says about this verse..

it is true that "holiness," purity, freedom from evil thoughts, from a wanton eye and a wanton imagination, from unholy plans and purposes, should prevail in the house of God, and should be regarded as indispensable to proper worship. As heaven is pure, and as there shall enter there nothing "that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination or maketh a lie" Revelation 21:27, so in the place where we seek to prepare for that holy world - the sanctuary of God - nothing should be allowed to enter that is impure and polluting; nothing that tends to corrupt or defile the soul. It may be added, that attendance in a place of public worship is calculated to make the heart pure, and to banish unholy thoughts and purposes from the soul. A man who feels that he is in the presence of a holy God, will not be likely to welcome into his soul polluted images and unholy desires.

Imagine if you were married to a spouse who had a lot of bad habits, or was selfish, and thoughtlessly hurtful. You would still love them of course, but you could never be 'close' in some ways, because they were always hurting you. (Sadly, I know I have been this to my dear spouse.)

So the kindest thing would be to say, "Honey, this hurts me. I want us to be close, but this puts distance between us... and I don't want that."

There is nothing 'down' about that. Any relationship where one spouse gets to act as they choose without regard for the other would not be right. It is the same with out Lord.

We ARE God's house... If we were our 'own' house we could act as we choose, and live as we choose. Only our reputation and our life would be defamed. It would be sad.. but our choice of course. But Dear friends, the Lord doesn't want HIS house to be uglified with sin.

He wants 'his' house to be beautiful and happily.. he will make us beautiful!.. in his time--IF we will allow him to help us.

When we look in the mirror of God's word (James 1:23-24) and see the ugly marks of sin, we must not despair.. but pray, "Dear Lord, help me please.. and remove this for me as I cannot do it."

Holiness.. is beautiful! A person who is loving, gracious, kind, joyful, peaceful, patient, self-controlled.. by the grace of the Holy Spirit... brings so much glory to God!

Is there anything more beautiful than a person who is beautiful from the inside out?
Sin is ugly. We know that. So yes.. the Lord by His Holy Spirit.. often reproves me.. and quite painfully, yet they are the faithful wounds of a friend.. who wants the best for me. And he wants the best for you too. Can we submit patiently and trustfully to his 'beauty regime?"

Yet God has made everything beautiful for its own time. He has planted eternity in the human heart, but even so, people cannot see the whole scope of God's work from beginning to end. Ecc 3:11

Dear Lord,

May we see sin the way you do. May we see how ugly it is to you and how beautiful holiness is. Help us to see the 'big picture'. Conviction means freedom! Abiding in you changes us...we who are your temple now.. into a place you can enjoy true fellowship with us. May we, your children, your church, your home.. be adorned more and more with your holiness. Amen

[Mary Naeem]

Thanks Ramez