True Beauty
True Beauty
What
makes a woman beautiful? Is it her hair,
her eyes, her character? What does our
culture say beauty is? An air brushed
face and size 0? What does God say
beauty is? Have you ever thought about
what God says about beauty? He talks
about it in His Word. Do you find
yourself striving for a certain kind of beauty?
It’s ok to want to look nice and take care of yourself. After all, we only have one body. But we should also strive for the beauty that
God defines.
Proverbs
31:30 says, “Favour is deceitful, and beauty is vain: but a woman that
feareth the Lord, she shall be
praised.”
Outward
beauty is vain and fleeting, but there are rewards for inward beauty (praise,
good works, pleasing God).
Romans
10:15 “And how shall they preach,
except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that
preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!”
Aren’t you always glad to see someone who is
bringing good news and positive words?
They just make you smile. They
are beautiful. People who bring peace put
you at ease and they are pleasant to be around.
Being positive and peaceful are beautiful to God. Complaining and sowing discord are ugly.
1 Pet. 3:3-5 says, “3 Whose
adorning let it not be that outward adorning of plaiting the hair, and of
wearing of gold, or of putting on of apparel;
4 But let it be the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not
corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the
sight of God of great price.
5 For after this manner in the old time the holy women also, who
trusted in God, adorned themselves, being in subjection unto their own husbands:”
Don’t
let your first focus be on outward adorning.
Here is the definition of adorning.
Adorning: to enhance the
appearance with ornaments
This
does not mean that we cannot wear jewelry and braid our hair. In that same verse it says, “or of putting on
of apparel” and we definitely aren’t going to stop wearing clothes! It just means don’t only focus on the outward
appearance without focusing on the inward heart. If we are going to spend an hour doing our
hair we should spend some time each day with God reading His Word.
The
only way to get the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit which is precious to
God is to spend time with Him. Learn
from Him what it means to be meek.
“Meek
and quiet spirit”: patience and longsuffering, moderate, have control over our
emotions, be calm and not out of control with a temper and speaking before
thinking, etc. THIS IS HARD, especially
with our PMS hormonesJ
Be
still before Him and quiet your heart from the race of this world. Proverbs 31:10 says that a virtuous woman’s
price is far above rubies. Having virtue
is better than wearing a ruby!
Another
way to adorn yourself is by submitting to your husband. The world thinks this is ugly but God
describes it as beautiful. It truly does
make for a beautiful marriage.
1
Timothy 2:9
says, “In like manner also, that women adorn themselves in modest
apparel, with shamefacedness and sobriety; not with broided hair, or gold, or
pearls, or costly array;”
“In
like manner”: like the men pray with holy hands…it is just as serious a matter
in how we dress. Pray about what you
wear. Is it holy? Holy means set apart. We are to be different from the world. When everyone else is wearing bikinis we are
to cover our bodies up!
“Modest
Apparel” (clothes) What does modesty mean?
Modest: appropriate dress
or behavior, reserved
Why
should we be modest? To protect our brothers eyes, to not stumble others, to be
a good example for others, to obey God’s Word
“With
shamefastness”: ashamed (don’t draw attention to your body to cause lust)
This is the opposite of what the world tells us…they say ‘don’t be ashamed to
show it off’
What
does sobriety mean?
“Sobriety”: self control,
seriousness, sound moral judgment
1
Timothy 2:10 says, “But (which becometh women
professing godliness) with good works.” Don’t rely on these
outward things to make you beautiful…Focus on the inward beauty, your character
and your heart which will never fade and is precious to God.
1
Peter 3:4 But let it be the hidden man of the heart, in
that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit,
which is in the sight of God of great price.
1
Tim. 4:8 “For bodily exercise profiteth little: but godliness is
profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that
which is to come.”
These
verses tell us to adorn the inside which won’t fade. But we want to look pretty
on the outside too…so try to spend the same amount of time on your outside
appearance as you do for your inside appearance (ex. 30 minutes of hair and
makeup so have a 30 minute devotion and prayer time). This may be easy for some of you and harder
for others. It is not a set standard but
rather an exercise so you can start putting this into practice.
Practical
application: Pay attention to the world’s message around you as it tries to
conform you to its image of beauty. (Magazine pictures at the store, Hollywood
actresses/models, fashion clothing.)
Compare
this to what the Bible says about beauty and evaluate your life. Do you look more like the world or more like
what the Bible says beauty is?
How
to cultivate inward beauty:
Pray-talk to God out loud
or in your head (or in a journal), while driving, while sunbathing or getting
dressed, anywhere!
Read
the Bible-
read a Proverbs a day and/or a Psalms a day or start reading through the Bible
starting in Genesis or Matthew and read a chapter a day, or do a topical study
by picking a topic like holiness and looking in the concordance for all the
verses with that word in it.
Memorize a Verse Psalm 119:9 Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? by taking
heed thereto according to thy word.
This
helps us LIVE out the Christian life. Hide
God’s Word in your heart!
Have
accountability Pick
a friend who wants to grow in the Lord with you or someone who is ahead of you
spiritually and ask them to pray with you and talk with you once a week or so
about God and what you are learning.
Remember
what TRUE BEAUTY is. :)
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