“I have made you beautiful.”

People say, “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.” This is true, and every bride wants to be beautiful to her groom. A bride spends much time preparing her outward beauty. She finds the dress that accentuates her figure. Often times, she spend months dieting and exercising trying to lose those pesky 5 to 10 pound that she thinks makes her look fat. For her wedding day, she pays someone to do her hair and makeup. She picks the precise jewelry that will flatter her facial features. In short, she does everything she can to make herself as beautiful as she can be.

Preparing for our heavenly bride groom is a different endeavor. When He looks at us, He isn’t impressed by our ornate gown or our perfectly arranged hair. Our groom looks deep into our hearts. He desires to behold the inner beauty of His bride.

How can we make our hearts more beautiful?

How do we become beautiful for Him?

Thankfully, He has done what it takes for us to be beautiful.

He has prepared us to be the beautiful bride He deserves.

Ezekiel 16:10-14
10 I clothed you with an embroidered dress and put sandals of fine leather on you. I dressed you in fine linen and covered you with costly garments. 11 I adorned you with jewelry: I put bracelets on your arms and a necklace around your neck, 12 and I put a ring on your nose, earrings on your ears and a beautiful crown on your head. 13 So you were adorned with gold and silver; your clothes were of fine linen and costly fabric and embroidered cloth. Your food was honey, olive oil and the finest flour. You became very beautiful and rose to be a queen. 14 And your fame spread among the nations on account of your beauty, because the splendor I had given you made your beauty perfect, declares the Sovereign LORD.

These verses use poetic imagery to describe how God makes us beautiful. As a bride is clothed with an embroidered dress and fine sandals, we have been clothed with His righteousness (2 Corinthians 5:21). This bride has been given beautiful jewels which include bracelets, necklaces, and earrings. We have been clothed with the incorruptible ornament of a gentle and quiet spirit (1 Peter 3:4). This bride wears a beautiful crown. At His appearing, He will place upon our heads three crowns: a crown of righteousness (2 Timothy 4:8), a crown of life (James 1:12), and a crown of glory (1 Peter 5:4).

It is the Lord who makes us beautiful. He has provided everything we need to be transformed into His beautiful bride. Romans 8:29 tells us that we are predestined to be transformed into His image.

The more we begin to look like Him, the more beautiful we become.

Jesus is the one that transforms us, but is there any way we can cooperate with this transformation? What is our part as a bride who seeks to make herself ready?

Spend time with Him. We need to spend time reading the Bible and praying in order to grow our relationship with Jesus. As the verses above tell us, He will make us beautiful, but He will not do so against our will. We need to be connected and cooperating with Him. We must spend time with Him. The more we know Jesus, the more we will love Him. The more we love Him, the more we will desire to be like Him.

Study His Word. We get to know Jesus by reading and studying the Bible. It is a love letter from our groom. We need to cherish it and read it. As we read it, we will learn more about our groom. He will show us what He is like. He will show us what He desires for us to be like. It is His Word that has the power to change us. Hebrews 4:12 says, “The Word of God is living and powerful … it is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.” As we read the Word, it discerns our thoughts and intents and shows us how we need to change. The Word has the power to transform us into a beautiful bride.

Set you mind on the things of the Spirit. If we are to live our lives in such a way as to be beautiful to Jesus, we must learn to live in the Spirit. “For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace” (Romans 8:5-6). We learn to live a beautiful life by setting our minds on the things of the Spirit. We learn what He values. We begin to desire what He desires.

Surrender to the Holy Spirit. In this process of transformation, the Holy Spirit is our guide (John 16:13). John 14:26 tells us that the Holy Spirit will teach us all things. It is through surrendering to His leading that we will learn to walk as Jesus walked. He will not lead us astray. He will lead us in the proper direction and teach us to walk as Jesus walked. As we follow Him and surrender to His direction, He will transform us into the beautiful bride of Christ that God describes in Ezekiel 16.

How do you need to cooperate with God as He beautifully transforms you?