Countless of times I have heard over and over again, you aren’t beautiful unless you’re a size zero, long hair, tan, tall, and numerous other things. Growing up, it was drilled into my mind that I found my identity in makeup and dressing up, the normal girly stuff. But, growing up, I had no desire to wear makeup, skirts, curl my hair and having to look completely perfect all the time. You see through society, you aren’t considered “beautiful” unless you are all of these things. It’s by the grace of God that I don’t find my identity in little things such as this anymore, but your true identity is found in Christ and what was done on the cross.

I read this and thought it was a great verse, “but let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with an imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God’s sight is very precious.” -1 Peter 3:4. I am so thankful that God’s definition of beauty doesn’t align with the worlds. You see God completely redefines beautiful, regardless of the color of our hair, sex, language we speak, skin color, age, wrinkles on our skin, height, or weight, he sees us beautiful despite all our frailties. What we have to understand is that when God looks at us, He sees a masterpiece, a masterpiece of His creation. It still amazes me more and more everyday that the God who created the universe is in pursuit of my worthless heart, a heart that He treasures as sacred.

So I’m sure the phrase “beauty is in the eye of the beholder’ isn’t new to you, in fact many of you have probably grown up hearing this exact phrase. (If you haven’t then man do I feel old!) So if we are holding true to this statement then, everyone is beautiful, right? Probably not, because “beauty” is primarily subject to change, based on who you ask. So my question for you is this: who determines what is classified as beautiful in your life? Does your definition of beauty align with God’s or have you fallen under society’s, the media, and everyone else’s trap of what I like to call “false beauty.” Physical beauty is what I primarily would classify as false beauty, because it is subjective. This beauty can be bought through types of surgeries, cosmetics, pills, clothes, foods, etc. This beauty is based on resources and if you have the right amount of money then you have access to these resources.

Of course physical attractiveness is important to us, we’re girls! We like to look nice, we like to feel nice, and whether you care to admit it or not, we like to hear others tell us how nice we look. That’s just unfortunately how us girls are. I don’t want you to think that I don’t take care of myself, I know it is important to take care of yourself and there is nothing wrong with wanting to look and feel your best. Just don’t let yourself let what you look like on the outside take away of what’s naturally there and the qualities that are on the inside. Which brings me to the second type of beauty, I classify this beauty as spiritual beauty. (The imperishable beauty we talked about earlier in 1 Peter 3:4.) Spiritual beauty is pure beauty, it’s the heart and soul of a person. There is nothing more beautiful than a woman who boldly and surely knows who she is in Jesus Christ. When you find your identity through Christ and you fully understand who you are, that you are His, then you are naturally more joyful and the desire of physical attractiveness will no longer be your main concern. You will no longer feel subjective to compete with others in according to superficial standards. You will radiate with the love of God and a love for His people, now that’s beautiful.

You have IMPERISHABLE beauty. See it. Protect it. Perfect it.
I hope and pray that this has helped some of you.
Psalm 16:11
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