truthgiver

BibleGateway

“Love takes up where knowledge leaves off.”

- Saint Thomas Aquinas

“God's truth judges created things out of love, and Satan's truth judges them out of envy and hatred.”

- Dietrich Bonhoeffer

"The secret of my success? It is simple. It is found in the Bible, 'In all thy ways acknowledge Him and He shall direct thy paths.'"

- George Washington Carver

"Character is always lost when a high ideal is sacrificed on the altar of conformity and popularity."

- Charles Spurgeon

"All men will be Peters in their bragging tongue, and most men will be Peters in their base denial; but few men will be Peters in their quick repentance."

- Owen Feltham

“I’m Ugly and Nobody Loves Me.”

I think that two lies that permeated my teen-age years were that I was ugly and nobody loved me.  These lies also sometimes manifest in the lives of adult ministers today.  This article proves the two lies are not true, not Biblical, and believing them will protract not living holy lives, manifesting the fruits of the Spirit:  love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Galatians 5:22-23). 

The idea to write this came to me from listening to a sermon about a pastor who counseled a young woman who said that she was ugly and nobody loved her, and that he helped her by sharing scripture which proved them to be untrue.  It made me search the scripture for the truth.

I’m Ugly

It is true that some people are more attractive than others.  My step-dad told me once, “there is always someone better-looking than you.”  This is true.  Even a good-looking starlet in Hollywood can stress out about other starlets being better looking than she.  But this is not God’s truth.  God tells me in scripture:

1 Samuel 16:7
But the LORD said to Samuel, "Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The LORD does not look at the things man looks at.  Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart."

You may not be as good looking as someone else, but this simply doesn’t matter in God’s eyes.  Man looks at the outward, but God looks at your heart.  God wants us to seek him with all of our hearts.

Psalm 119:2
Blessed are they who keep his statutes and seek him with all their heart.

Psalm 28:7
The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in him, and I am helped. My heart leaps for joy and I will give thanks to him in song.

God doesn’t want us to be absorbed with vanity, but wants us to obey and respect him.

1 Peter 3:3-5
Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as braided hair and the wearing of gold jewelry and fine clothes.  Instead, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God's sight.  For this is the way the holy women of the past who put their hope in God used to make themselves beautiful.

Proverbs 31:30
Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting; but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised.

Or, are you someone who prides themselves in great knowledge of the Bible or spiritual things, rules and not relationships?  That is ugliness in God’s sight.

Matthew 23:27
Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchers, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness. 

Romans 12:16
Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited.

Inward ugliness turns into gossip.

Ephesians 4:29
Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification according to the need of the moment, so that it will give grace to those who hear.

Psalm 101:5
Whoever secretly slanders his neighbor, Him I will destroy; The one who has a haughty look and a proud heart, Him I will not endure.

James 3:6

And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity. The tongue is so set among our members that it defiles the whole body, and sets on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire by hell.

Inward ugliness turns into all kinds of sin.

Galatians 5:19-21
Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

Nobody Loves Me

This is also not true.  According to the scriptures, God loves you and your parents love you.

Matthew 10:29-31
Are not two sparrows sold for a copper coin? And not one of them falls to the ground apart from your Father’s will.  But the very hairs of your head are all numbered.  Do not fear therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows.

John 3:16
For God so loved the world that He gave his only begotten son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

Psalm 127:3
Behold, children are a gift of the LORD, The fruit of the womb is a reward.

It pleases the LORD if you obey your parents.

Colossians 3:20
Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord.

If we are Christians, we are God’s children.

Romans 8:16
The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children.

And unless we become like little children, we can’t enter into His kingdom.

Matthew 18:3
And he said: "I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

Your only hope is to humble yourselves, and the LORD will look to you:

Isaiah 66:2
“For My hand made all these things, Thus all these things came into being," declares the LORD "But to this one I will look, To him who is humble and contrite of spirit, and who trembles at My word.”

(notice it doesn’t say, “But to this one I will look, To him/her who is the best looking and the most popular”).

I’m Beautiful and the LORD Loves Me

Beauty to the LORD is one who obeys and tells others of the Gospel.

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!

God loves you so much; he doesn’t wish anyone should perish.  

1 Peter 3:9
The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.

Repent; don’t believe these lies.  You are beautiful and loved of God.

Titus 3:4-5
But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy.