Beautiful: Part 3

So, here’s the big question, “How does beauty reflect its’ maker?” The question answers itself if you look closely. Something is beautiful because it simply reflects its’ maker, not because it has been altered, added too or taken from. Think of a simple rose. It is at its’ most beautiful state when it has bloomed. An artist could try to paint the petals or a craftsman could try and re-arrange the petals or add some different ones to it from another flower but it would no longer be a rose and it would no longer be as beautiful as it was.

Do you reflect your Lord, your maker? The question is not, “Do you think you are beautiful?” because in your fickle mind, there will always be something about yourself that you would change because our hearts are laced with sin. We want what we do not have and we fail to understand that our Maker has made no mistakes.  God is perfect and He is our creator. So you and me and Meg Ryan were all made by the same God who designed all of us so intricately and with perfect attention to detail with the final result being beauty. Now there is a role that sin plays and we have already discussed this in the previous posts, but let us not forget that no man, no surgery, no beauty product can every make us more beautiful than how God designed us to be. It is our job as Christian women to reflect the beauty of Christ. It is not the job of non-Christian women to do so. So, when they are “altering” their beauty or dressing immodestly, they are only acting their “part.” It is our duty to live out true beauty before a world who seeks so desperately for it. They will never achieve it, but we can.

Author Elisabeth Elliot tells us “A woman’s beauty should reside in the inmost center of her being.” Even Meg Ryan longs for true beauty though she doesn’t know it. One of Hollywood’s darlings, she says of herself “I think I’m kind of weird looking.  If I could change the way I look, I’d like to have longer legs, smaller feet, a smaller nose.”  Nancy Leigh DeMoss in her book “Lies Women Believe” comments on Meg’s remark about herself, “What we believe ultimately determines how we live.  If we believe something that is not true, sooner or later we will act on that lie; believing and acting on lies leads us to bondage.”

Practically speaking, how do we keep ourselves from this bondage? Mrs. DeMoss answer’s this question right on, “Do you know who you are? God made you a woman. Accept His gift. Don’t be afraid to be feminine and to add physical and spiritual loveliness to the setting where He has placed you. You are a child of God. You are a part of the bride of Christ. You belong to the King- you are royalty. Dress and conduct yourself in a way that reflects your high and holy calling. Don’t let the world press you into its’ mold. Don’t think, dress, or act like the world; inwardly and outwardly, let others see the difference He makes in your life.”

Ladies, it would be believing another lie of satan to say that we can’t dress fashionably or wear pretty jewelry. God has designed us to be compliments to our husbands and if we don’t care for our physical appearances we reflect negatively on our husbands and on our heavenly Bridegroom. We should fight for our marriages to be beautiful for the man God has placed in our life because you can be sure there are other women out there standing in line to get his attention. While it is good for us to dress attractively, it must not be according to the world’s standards. We hold great responsibility as Christian women to present modesty as something far more beautiful than exposing our bodies to a watching world.  Come back tomorrow for a look at another text in the Bible from 1 Timothy that teaches us more about what this means…

Category : Christian Living, Culture, Marriage