Beauty

"I also want women to dress modestly, with decency and propriety, not with braided hair or gold or pearls or expensive clothes, but with good deeds, appropriate for women who profess to worship God."

1 Timothy 2:9-10

That verse is rather full, isn't it? I mean, if you just glance at it you might think it's telling you that you can't wear jewelery, braid your hair, or wear a shirt that costs more than five dollars! But let's think about beauty for a minute. What does God say about beauty? Man looks at the outward appearance, but God looks at the heart. So beauty is really something that starts inside. If we love the Lord and want to do everything for His glory, then we are beautiful to Him. Outward beauty will fade. We know that. If you're considered gorgeous at 20, we all know you won't have that beauty at 90. It will decay, as does everything earthly. But there is an unfading beauty. "The unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit." So beauty is truly in the heart. But is it wrong to wear jewelery, or even wear a little make-up now and then? No. God made beauty, and he made us to delight in beauty. But we need to have the right attitude about our outward appearance. If we dress ourselves "with good deeds, appropriate for women who profess to worship God", and that's what we focus on, then it's perfectly fine to wear something pretty. But if you only try to make yourself beautiful on the outside, you are not really beautiful. If you're like me, maybe you've seen a girl and thought "Wow, she's really pretty! I wish I looked like that!" But then maybe she's disrespectful to her parents, or does something that shows her inner attitude. When I see that, it totally spoils what I think of her outward beauty. I don't think "I wish I was like her" anymore. She is not truly beautiful. But I know a young woman who loves the Lord, who is kind and compassionate, thinks of others above herself, and just shows her love for God in everything. Ever since I was very young, there was no older girl at church who I thought was as beautiful as her. I admired her, looked up to her, and always wanted to be like her. As I've gotten older, to me she has still been all of that. But recently I thought, "What would I think if I looked just at her outward appearance? Is that really what is so lovely?" And when I looked, she was certainly not ugly, she was as fair and pretty as any of the other girls I know. But she was not what the world would call a "great beauty". And yet, a little girl loved and admired her so much. Why? Because she is truly beautiful. And that is what the Lord wants us to be.

~Lucy