Hearing the words, “You are beautiful” is music to a person’s ears. It means the most coming from the one whose opinion matters most.
Who would you like to say that to you?
There are so many ways society tries to define beauty for us and manipulate us believing it. Most of this is only skin deep and, as we know, skin gets damaged and aged.
The one who created us, designed us, loves us, sacrificed for us, and works in us is the one we should want to hear say, “You are beautiful.” Our heavenly Father should be the one whose opinion of us matters the most. Do you know what he is looking at? Your heart. You see, “Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart” (1 Samuel 16:7b NKJV, letter M in Do LAPS!).
Regarding the heart, Jesus said, “A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of” (Luke 6:45 NIV). A person might look beautiful on the outside, but if the person’s attitude and words are unpleasant, that beauty is dimmed.
As parents, we think our own children are the prettiest or most handsome. We do want our children to feel attractive and special. But, we should want them to be beautiful – and this comes from the heart.
To shape their heart, our children must learn to value what God values. This means we need to parent with that in mind. We need to teach our children what is important to God based on who he is. We need to encourage them to “turn from evil and do good” in practical ways like obeying when they don’t feel like obeying and taking initiative to help rather than being selfish. Children need to be taught to “seek peace and pursue it” (Psalm 34:14 NIV, letter T in Do LAPS!). This can be modeled by us, and our children can practice it by, for example, sharing, speaking kindly, and using self-control.
As adults, we might try to put on appearances, presenting a certain aspect of ourselves while covering up what we may not like. But as the saying goes, we should not judge a book by its cover. There’s a whole story behind the cover! Let’s help our children understand that the best story for their life is written by God and lived out by them as they exercise their faith in Jesus.
God sees our heart and, through the work of the Holy Spirit, he is making it beautiful in his eyes.
The Do LAPS! books present simple, fun, and effective ways to teach your child God’s ways using God’s Word. Work though a Do LAPS! book with your own family and give one as a meaningful gift to another family.