What Is Beauty?

A friend once told me that she was feeling exceptionally pretty one day, so she asked her daughter to take her picture. When she saw the picture she was disappointed because she didn’t see beauty, she saw a haggard woman.

When do you feel beautiful? I feel beautiful when I’m serving others or when I’m having a blast playing with my kids, or when I feel confident. But if I happen to pass by a mirror and see that my hair is disheveled or some other physical imperfection my confidence plummets. We buy into Satan’s lies when we allow our worth to be measured by mankind’s subjective idea of beauty. Physical beauty fades with years and can be taken away without a moments notice.

According to Webster beauty is: the quality or aggregate of qualities in a person or thing that gives pleasure to the senses or pleasurably exalts the mind or spirit: loveliness. God’s Word describes beauty in Proverbs 31:30 - "Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting; but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised."

I asked my eight-year-old daughter what beauty is and she immediately replied, “Me” as she danced around the room with great enthusiasm and a smile on her face. I then began to read what I wrote above to her and she stopped me and said, “Mama you are beautiful even if your hair is a mess. God thinks everyone is beautiful because He made them and He knows His creation is very good.” Oh to have the untarnished confidence of a happy, little girl.

Real beauty cannot fade and can never be taken away because it’s part of your character. When we are assured of God’s perfect love and know who we are in Christ we won’t fall for the devil’s deceit.

When I look at my friend mentioned in the first paragraph, regardless of what she is wearing or how her hair looks, I see beauty. I see beauty that radiates from deep within because of her love for Christ, her devotion to her husband and children and the friendship she freely gives to me.

God’s Word admonishes us: "Wives, in the same way be submissive to your husbands so that, if any of them do not believe the word, they may be won over without words by the behavior of their wives, when they see the purity and reverence of your lives. Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as braided hair and the wearing of gold jewelry and fine clothes. Instead, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God's sight. For this is the way the holy women of the past who put their hope in God used to make themselves beautiful. They were submissive to their own husbands, like Sarah, who obeyed Abraham and called him her master. You are her daughters if you do what is right and do not give way to fear." ~ 1 Peter 3:1-6

So go and shine for Jesus. Rest assured that you are beautiful because HE made you and loves you. In that confidence you can minister to others and share HIS love with a hurting world.

Beauty Distorted

A friend sent this to me the other day. And we wonder why so many women think they don't measure up... They can't. No-one can...