Your Relationship With God Can Make You Beautiful
Dear Friends,
Today I want to share with you how your relationship with God can make you beautiful. First I should define beauty. Is it only skin deep? No of course not, but I do believe that who you are on the inside is reflected in your outward appearance. It is for this reason that your relationship with God can make you beautiful inside and out.
I was listening to a podcast recently by Julia James Davis from The War On Beauty, I just love the way she describes beauty, and I agree with her definition of beauty completely. Julia defines “beauty as being objective not subjective.” She said “beauty is something all people, of all ages, from all walks of life, recognize as having intrinsic value without it having to be explained.” She also pointed out that “true beauty points to God.” I completely agree with her. From my perspective as a mother, and former preschool teacher, I can tell you children have no trouble recognizing if a person, or some form of art, is good and beautiful, or it it is bad. I do not need to explain to them when something is good and beautiful, they are in awe, and say wow that is pretty. Likewise, I do not have to explain to them if art is not beautiful, because when they see it, confused, they ask what it is and why someone made it. With people children will say; wow they are nice, if someone is acting beautifully, and they recognize if someone is acting mean, or ugly, as well. All that is to say; even young children will recognize true beauty when they see it.
We have been conditioned for decades to think that modern art, immodesty, and poor health are beautiful, but we always have to be taught that those are beautiful. The reason is that those things are not truly beautiful. I am again going to reference Julia from The War On Beauty where she says; “the things that have to be explained to us as beautiful are only conceptually beautiful.”
When I say that your relationship with God can make you beautiful, I am speaking specifically about true objective beauty. Matthew 7:16 says “you will know them by their fruits.” In this verse it is stating that you will recognize a false prophet by their actions and potentially their words. If you will recognize a false prophet by their fruits, surely the opposite is true, and you will recognize someone who is seeking God by their fruits as well. God is beauty and He created man in His image. It is natural to assume that if we are actively seeking a true relationship with God, then in our effort to be more Christ like to please Him, we would become more beautiful. If you are actively and honestly seeking a relationship with God, your fruits should be beautiful. In fact Galatians 5:22-23 tells us what the “fruits of the spirit are; love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.” Just a few verses later Galatians 5:26 tells us “not to be conceited, provoking one another, and envying one another.” So it tells us how not to act in following the Spirit. If we are trying to be lead by the Spirit, and have people know us by our fruits, then we would naturally be more beautiful internally.
Let’s talk about some of the instructions the Bible gives about how to pursue these qualities. Proverbs 4:23 tells us to “guard our hearts above all else.” That is because everything flows from our heart; it is the source of our thoughts, attitude, beliefs, and actions. Got Questions says “a heart of patience, understanding, and forgiveness creates a culture of trust and mutual respect,” when referencing 1 Corinthians 12:25-27. These verses discuss how we are all important and necessary parts that make up one body, the body of the church. How we can have a heart like the one described by Got Questions? We should strive to do what Ephesians 4:31-32 says: to “get rid of all bitterness, rage, and anger, brawling and slander, and every form of malice… and cultivate an attitude of love, kindness, and compassion toward others.” These things require quite a bit of self-control. That is one of the fruits of the spirit so you will not have to do it alone, you can lean on God to help you via prayer, reading the Bible, and trying to fully submit yourself to God’s will. 1 Thessalonians 5:21-22 says to; “hold on to what is good, reject every kind of evil.” Philippians 4:8 gives us a list of those good things to hold on to; “whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.” Thinking of and consuming these good things, and rejecting evil things is one of the main ways we guard our heart.
It is guarding our hearts that will make us beautiful internally. Psalm 37:4 says; “delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart.” Does that mean He is going to give you whatever your heart desires? No. It means He is going to change your heart so that what you desire is good and beautiful. What this means is that if you are seeking a true relationship with the Lord and delighting in Him, you will start to desire these good and beautiful things. Of course you will still be tempted by things that are not good but you will be able to resist those temptations with God’s help. What is so interesting about this change in your heart is that you will not only desire things that are good and beautiful, but you will also naturally be turned off by things that are not good and beautiful. So as your relationship with God grows so your desire for beauty and distaste for lack of beauty grows.
I have talked about how a relationship with God can make you beautiful inside, but I know what you want to know; how can your relationship with God make you beautiful externally as well? Let’s start with discussing 1 Timothy 2:9 “women should adorn themselves in respectable apparel, with modesty and self-control, not with braided hair and gold or pearls or costly attire.” I do not believe that this verse is telling women not to wear expensive clothing or beautiful jewelry. In the next verse it gives more context; that women should adorn themselves “with what is proper for women who profess godliness-with good works” 1 Timothy 2:10. I think these verses are telling women to dress and accessorize modestly and according to your budget, and not to focus as much on the things we wear as the things we do. We should focus on doing good rather than focusing on our appearance, at least our appearance should not be our primary focus. Dressing in a modest style, makes me think of a chic french woman. They tend to have simple classic attire that is styled just right. It is not form fitting all over the body, only on specific areas, and it tends to make a pleasing silhouette. An example might be having a romantic billowy skirt with a more form fitting top tucked into it, a kitten heal, a purse with a classic shape, and wearing just the right amount of gold jewelry for the occasion. The makeup is not too heavy and the hair is natural and down or put half up with a metal clip or ribbon. The style I just described seems modest to me, not showing too much skin or dripping in diamonds, just dressing in such a way that flatters the body that God blessed us with and using accessories just to add a little bit of interest and glamor. The style I also picture is very romantic and feminine. Modesty tends to change based on a few factors, your comfort level, your age, and the occasion. For instance I would not expect you to wear the same outfit to church that you would wear to the gym or on a hike. As to how I decide what is modest in regard to how much skin to show or how form fitting clothing should be, I tend to think about 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 “Don’t you know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought at a price. So glorify God with your body.” These verses make me think twice about what I am wearing. It doesn’t just make me think I need to completely cover myself up with a very baggy dress that does not show my shape. Rather, it makes me think of all of the beauty around us, especially nature, and inspires me to try to be beautiful as well. I try to glorify God with my clothing choices.
God has inspired so many people to create such beautiful things from fashion, to amazing cathedrals, to paintings and music. Think of the frescos in the Sistine Chapel by Michelangelo, and Ode to Joy Beethoven’s 9th symphony. When you are delighting in the Lord you will also delight in the beauty He graciously surrounded us with. This delight inspires you to create more beauty yourself and in this case it is the way you act and in your physical appearance. As you draw closer to God it is almost as if the beauty will be drawn out of you.
I know this post was long but I hope you enjoyed it. Beauty being drawn out as you grow closer to God is my personal experience as well as my observation of others. Take time to pause and notice the beauty God created. I hope your relationship with God and the beauty He surrounded us with will inspire you to become beautiful inside and out.
Your Friend,
Amanda
