Spiritual Beauty

“Moses did not know that the skin of his face had become shiny” (Exodus 34:29)

Spiritual beauty is at its best when its possessor does not feel it. This is the highest measure of spiritual beauty; to be beautiful and not know it. This is certainly a lesson we need to learn. Virtue is always subject to its possessor being perceived as having it, and to being praised for it, and in that is all the loss of its luster.

Take, for example, the blessing of humility. Humility is a very beautiful quality when nothing mars it. But there is a humility that its possessor feels, and expects people to praise him for it, and this humility is nothing but a deceptive kind of pride. It is very possible to boast about our humility. There are men and women whose only source of pride is their humility. We often meet people who, when asked for a favor, quickly wave the flag of humility and say that they are of the humble type and would rather disappear and take the last place.

It is true that the humble person takes the last place, but he does not know that his face shines. Pride can take the last place and finds pleasure in the illusion of the shine of his face. The belief that a person is humble often distorts this beautiful quality and even turns it into pride. A virtue cannot be in its full strength and beauty until its possessor loses the feeling that it is in him. For example, we must speak the truth as we breathe air, without realizing it. We must wear the garment of humility as we breathe, without realizing it.

And so must our state be with all Christian qualities. We must live in the world with our faces shining, but without realizing it. In order to exist in this state, we must be so preoccupied with God that we forget ourselves completely, and this is followed by a change into the same image (2 Corinthians 3:18).

Written by/Unknown Author