In the book of Esther, Esther was one of many women taken through a process for a year to become beautiful. This process included six months of oil and six months of perfume. The women would then get to spend one night with the King. This King wanted the women to look beautiful, feel nice for touching, and to smell good. The Bible says the King found Esther the most pleasing. She had more grace and more favor with him than all the other women, and he fell in love with her. He married Esther and made her queen.

We as followers of Jesus go through the same sort of process during our lifetime. The Holy Spirit metaphorically can be compared to the King’s Eunuch. He devotes His life to us, to prepare us to meet Jesus. He is our oil and perfume. He is the One who makes us look beautiful, feel nice and smell good to the King.

Jesus spoke to me once about beauty. I was in my car, going to pick up my children from school, just thinking about Him. I was thinking about how much I love Him and how beautiful He is, when His presence flooded into my car in a special way. He began to show me what He saw, how beautiful I am to Him. It was like that of a husband taking great pride in His wife’s beauty. He was showing me that He knows He is responsible for that beauty. In the same way, Jesus recognizes that His love for her, the Bride of Christ – the way He has treated her and the gifts He has given to her have been special to her. Who He is and how He has loved her has formed the beauty within her. She carries that beauty with so much grace and fortitude. He has given her life. She in turn touches the world around her with the life she has been given.

Yes! He showed me all that and it was so beautiful! My heart became mush. But what is it that makes us so beautiful to Him? What is the beauty standard of God? The short answer is that we live this life in pursuit of Him, which causes us to become like Him. What He really wants to see is Himself in us.

Have you ever met an old married couple that looks like they can be brother and sister? It’s like they are two halves of a whole. They can finish each other’s sandwiches (just kidding). Very often, they begin to think alike and find they were thinking the same thing at the same time. They dress alike, they know just by looking how each other is feeling. They know each other’s likes and dislikes and they make room for each other.  They have lived their lives for each other for so long that they are one. I believe walking with Jesus is similar. We become increasingly molded to His image over time and we start to look like Him.

Jesus is pleased by our beauty within. A beauty that is outwardly reflected to the world around us. The Bible calls praise a garment and wisdom a beautiful crown. Faith in Him and believing He is who He says He is pleasing to Him. I would even say brokenness is a beauty mark because when we are weak, then He can become strong in us. The greater our need for Him, the more He will give us of Himself. Jesus is gentle and humble, quick to forgive. The fruit of the Holy Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, gentleness, and self-control. This is what Jesus longs to produce in us because this is the beauty standard of God.

This is one of my favorite scriptures.

Song of Solomon 6:10 says, “Who is she who looks forth as the morning, Fair as the moon, Clear as the sun, Awesome as an army of banners?”

This scripture is poetic and prophetic. From a prophetic perspective this is King Jesus making a statement about His Bride.

Who is she who looks forth as the morning, this is a picture of His bride walking in the way of righteousness and bringing hope to others.

Fair as the moon, is a picture of her reflecting the light of Jesus (because the moon doesn’t have its own light).

Clear as the son, is a picture of God’s glory surrounding her.

Awesome as an army of banners, is a picture of Her leading God’s people to victory.

Esther 2:12-18, 2 Corinthains 2:15, Isaiah 61:3, Proverbs 4:8, Hebrews 11:6, 2 Corinthians 12:9, Matthew 11:28-30, 1John 1:9, Galatians 5:22-23, Proverbs 4:18, Zechariah 2:5