A Beautiful Thing.

It’s a shame that beauty has come to be synonymous with a perfect model in an advertisement. Beauty often has little to do with it. That kind of beauty is often disposable, faddish, and even debatable, contingent upon the job the Photoshop guy did to fix her nose.

Physical, outer appearance has a lot to do with how we perceive beauty but not a lot with how God sees it. This passage,

Your adornment must not be merely external – braiding of the hair, and wearing gold jewelry, or putting on dresses; but let it be the hidden person of the heart, with the imperishable quality of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is precious in the sight of God. [I Peter 3:3-4]

Does NOT say, “Don’t you dare care how you look because that’s bad”.

It’s saying that outer appearance isn’t even half of it.

Say what you will, but most people wouldn’t argue about a truly beautiful woman. It’s more than the outer appearance, better than any miracle makeup. Something inside sort of just glows and makes the rest of her so attractive.

Why?

She’s confident. This isn’t to be confused with prideful at all. Someone who is perfectly content with where God has her can’t be prideful because she knows that the glory belongs to the Lord. She wouldn’t even think about taking that glory for herself. She shows her confidence by expressing her freedom. She is free to be who He created her to be. Fear of what others might say or how they will look at her won’t influence her because her mind is renewed to the truth of God’s word. She is rooted in Him and is refreshed by that truth every day. And she shares that with others so that they can be encouraged in the Word and renewed by His truth!

She’s open about her failures. Beautiful people aren’t sin-free people. They’re people who can look back, admit that their past isn’t pretty, and use that to God’s glory. How? I think God must bring people into connection with one another because it always seems like He puts one person with “a past” into the life of another with a similar story to encourage and challenge. Failure in the past is often an open door to a glorious future. No one can be branded by their past sins without their consent. And God is faithful in the life of a person willing not wanting to be branded by where they’ve been. He uses that openness in the lives of so many people.

She has perspective. Her life is not hers to live and she lives in active knowledge of that. Her life is not a mere nod to the idea that she has been bought with a price; she actually lives from that perspective. Everything she has is hers to give. Because she has no “right” to her life, no valid claim on even the next breath she will take, God has every right. He can freely shine through her because she is His. And because she is His, she is available to others. She loves His creation and the people He has created. She wants to know them, to serve them, to love them… because He loves her.

She knows where she’s going. Even if she doesn’t know the next step she will take, she’s following God with all she has. The direction of her life and the pattern of her heart are to follow Him. His word is a lamp to her feet and a light to her path. She is faithful to obey what she knows, stay true to Him, and trust Him with the outcome. The truth is that she may have a vision of where she’s actually going or she may not. She might be following blindly in regard to the plans set for her but with eyes wide open, focused on Him, the author and perfecter of faith.

So what makes her so attractive? It’s the hidden person of the heart, the person she is at the core, the person who loves God more than all others. That’s what reflects inside her and shines out, creating that glow. She’s a woman of God.

And it’s a beautiful thing.

[I’ve been thinking about all of these things lately, and much of what I’ve written has come from conversations with some exceptionally beautiful people in my life. God has been faithful to provide people who constantly encourage me in His word and in His truth and it has been wonderful. I am learning what it means to be a beautiful person myself and as I see myself in the mirror of God’s word, I realize how far I have to go. That’s okay because I’m not perfect and God is faithful to perfect. All the same, I thank Him for truly beautiful women who encourage me to follow Him with all I have.]