Inner beauty
The world looks at outer beauty. All to often we are swamped daily about how you should be thin, young, have good skin, perfect hair and teeth. AD's on TV scream out you are not good enough just as you are. But what does the bible say about all of this?
1 Peter 3:3-4 ESV
Do not let your adorning be external—the braiding of hair and the putting on of gold jewelry, or the clothing you wear— but let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God's sight is very precious.
Proverbs 31:30
Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain, but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised.
1 Samuel 16:7
But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.”
God wants us to concentrate on the inside of us not the outside of us. Beauty is temporary. You can only put off the effects of age so long. Exercise while helpful does not bring heavenly rewards. A beautiful woman that has a ugly heart can be hard to live with. Some times the most charming and handsome man can turn out to be a sociopath. You will attract more people to Christ simply by working on your inner beauty. Your character. Concentrate on developing the fruits of the spirit The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control-Gal 5:22. Don't be tempted to buy into the worlds definition of beauty. Work on Gods definition of beauty. Christ himself was ugly for Isaiah says :
Isaiah 53
2For He grew up before Him like a tender shoot, And like a root out of parched ground; He has no stately form or majesty That we should look upon Him, Nor appearance that we should be attracted to Him. 3He was despised and forsaken of men, A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; And like one from whom men hide their face He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.
Yet Lucifer was the one of God's most beautiful angels it says:
Ezekiel 28
“You were the signet of perfection,[a] full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. 13 You were in Eden, the garden of God; every precious stone was your covering, sardius, topaz, and diamond, beryl, onyx, and jasper, sapphire,[b] emerald, and carbuncle; and crafted in gold were your settings and your engravings.[c] On the day that you were created they were prepared. 14 You were an anointed guardian cherub. I placed you;[d] you were on the holy mountain of God; in the midst of the stones of fire you walked. 15 You were blameless in your ways from the day you were created, till unrighteousness was found in you.
What a huge difference between Christ and Satan! If God loved Christ and he was ugly and Satan was beautiful what should that say about our own vanity? Work on the inside. Let God take care of the outside.
