Cos' we are beautiful no matter what they say
Yes, words won't bring us down, oh no

"Beautiful" by Christina Aguilera (written by Linda Perry)


For those of you who are fans of the TV show "House," if you don't know this very popular song on its own you may recognize it from the episode with the 9 year old female cancer patient (who Dr. Chase kisses at one point).

One thing that I've thought about but never blogged about is the connection between justification and beauty, and this song is one that comes to my mind regarding this matter. When God declares us righteous He gives us a robe of righteousness; He takes away our own righteousnesses, which are like "filthy rags" or a "polluted garment" (Isaiah 64:6), and freely clothes us in His own perfection instead. We tend to think of this perfection in terms of its moral component. But, this perfection also is beautiful, because the LORD Himself is beautiful (Psalm 27:4). "For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God," (2 Corinthians 5:21, ESV); for a time Jesus put aside His beauty (v. 2 of Isaiah 52:13-53:12), so that in Him we might be beautiful. And, since God has declared us righteous, the devil has to shut his mouth in defeat.

See these verses for more background: Isaiah 52:1, Isaiah 60:9, Isaiah 61:1-3, Isaiah 61:10, Zechariah 3:1-5, Romans 8:31-34, Galatians 3:23-29, Colossians 2:8-15, Revelation 7:9-17, Revelation 21.