Just because this post is about inner beauty, please let me start by saying that this doesn’t mean I think there’s anything wrong with a bit of outer beauty to go with it… I’m the FIRST to reach for the liquid eyeliner and my trusty MAC lipsticks. I’d even go as far as to say outer beauty is a good thing.
Outer beauty is good, but it’s fleeting.
“Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting; but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised.” – Proverbs 31:30
Now you might be there thinking, ‘what on earth does God have to do with beauty?’ I’d say, everything. God fashioned this earth, He flung stars into space and created picturesque scenery so beautiful it can sometimes literally take your breath away. Our God knows beauty.
And then, there came you. Beautiful you! God formed and fashioned you before the beginning of time. He knit you together in your mother’s womb (check out Psalm 139). Yes, he knew you’d have that amazing hair and the sense of style you have, but He also knew you’d have that sensitive nature, that compassion for others and that desire to change the world. Those things are beautiful too.
Those things are beautiful because they mirror God’s heart entirely. Those things are beautiful because you are made is His image and He loves it when His children reflect His goodness.
I’m nearly thirty, which is by no means old, but it’s older than I was at twenty, and sometimes it shows. Now, I could get down and out about it. Or I could remind myself that I’m fearfully and wonderfully made by GOD and keep working on that inner beauty. Who couldn’t use more kindness, more patience, more hope? (I know it’s not just me!)
Society today can make it so easy for us to compare ourselves to everybody else. One flick through Instagram and we’re suddenly wondering why we can’t look that good in that dress or why she can get her contour/highlight so right every time while we’re just here looking like a panda. (I know that’s not just me either…) But girl, please listen, somewhere there’s someone looking at you asking those exact same questions. We always think the grass is greener on the other side and it’s just not true. Comparison is the biggest thief of joy, ladies. Don’t entertain it.
God designed and purposed YOU with specific ideas in mind. Go and make them happen! Who cares if your shoes need to be re-heeled and you’ve run out of foundation? You know the One who literally invented beauty and you’re a part of what’s beautiful to Him. A beauty that doesn’t run out, a beauty with endless supply and limitless resources. Go and be beautiful with your words and actions towards others and with your worship unto God, because I’m telling you, at the end of it all, that’s what matters most in the long run.
