Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting;
but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised.
Proverbs 31:30

I have been thinking a lot about beauty… What does God think about beauty? Does God think I am beautiful? What is true beauty?

In our culture and society, “Girls are taught to want to be leggy, slender, largebreasted, curly-haired, unimposingly beautiful. Boys are instructed to be ‘athletic’ in build, tall but not too tall, broad-shouldered, deep-chested, narrow-hipped, square-jawed, straight-nosed, not bald, unimposingly handsome…” Growing up, we learn about beauty in story books…we learn that beauty is associated with “good” and ugliness is associated with “evil”. (Think about all those fairy tale books) I find myself caught up in looks one too many times, thinking about how I want my legs to be skinnier, my skin to be better..if only those zits would go away. ><

But is beauty good or bad? From yet another boundless article, I was reminded that God is beautiful (God is true beauty!). And to be created by God is to be created in His image...meaning we are beautiful too! Psalm 27:4 says,

One thing I ask of the LORD, this is what I seek:
that I may dwell in the house of the LORD
all the days of my life,
to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD
and to seek him in his temple.

In other words, to despise beauty is to reject part of the nature of God.

Aside: I guess that psalmist David understood that he was hot, cuz he said “I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.” (Psalm 139:14)

Okay, so we’ve established that de-emphasizing beauty is bad. But what about over-emphasizing beauty?

Being on the other end of the scale also not good! The problem with beauty is when use that as our security….when we trust our beauty and not the one who gave it to us. I know for myself, that when I wear a nice shirt, when my skin is good, etc I feel more confident about myself.

(I stole this from boundless…):

Ezekiel 16 recounts the way God lavished Israel with beauty. Like a bridegroom preparing His bride, He adorned her with fine clothes, jewels and all manner of finery until he “made [her] beauty perfect.”

The tragedy of the story isn’t the beauty but that Israel trusted in her beauty and fame, rather than in the One who gave them to her. That’s the same temptation we face and what, I suspect, your friend is resisting — the world’s temptation to trust in beauty for beauty’s sake. When that happens, it’s called vanity and it leads to downfall.

Mm…so going back to that “Charm is deceptive, beauty is fleeting…” verse, I am learning to embrace beauty and yet, not lean on it for security. “A truly beautiful body is one that gives shape to a beautiful soul. ”

God thinks you are cute. And so do I. *wink*