Beauty From the Inside Out

So many of us think of beauty as supermodels, actresses, and magazine covers. But God has a different idea of beauty and what makes us as women beautiful in His eyes.

1 Peter 3:4 says “You should be known for the beauty that comes from within, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is so precious to God.”

Proverbs 31:30 says, “Charm is deceptive and beauty does not last; but a woman who fears the Lord will be greatly praised.”
(By the way, these are two of my favorite verses on bad hair days!)

I believe that God wants us to be beautiful on the inside and on the outside. I don’t believe that God’s standard of beauty is the same as man’s. I think that we have made beauty something that God never meant for it to be. You see, God expects us to take care of our bodies as women. He wants us to be healthy and comfortable in our own skin. However, He makes it very clear in his Word that beauty that comes from the inside is much more important to him than outward beauty.

1 Peter 3:3 says, “Don’t be concerned about the outward beauty that depends on fancy hairstyles, expensive jewelry, or beautiful clothes.”

Does God know women or what? How many of us looked in the mirror today and worried about how our hair looked or how skinny we looked in our outfit? This scripture says it all (and another one of my favorites on a bad hair day)!

Just recently I have realized that taking care of ourselves spiritually is a lot like taking care of ourselves physically. Don’t you know that taking care of ourselves can make a huge difference in our attitudes and interactions with others?

Let me walk you through my day and explain what I mean.

Several of my friends and I are training for a 5K…I know ambitious, right? But seriously, we are going to do this. So every Monday, Wednesday, Friday, I get up and spend 30 minutes on my treadmill training so that I can meet this ambitious goal we have set for ourselves. Every morning when I wake up, my treadmill is there. It is waiting for me to use it. I’m not going to wake up and find the treadmill is gone from my house no matter how badly I wish that it would just disappear sometimes. It is going to do its part if I do mine. However, I have to choose to get on the treadmill and run every morning.

Like the treadmill, Jesus is there for us every morning. He waits for us to meet with him. However, we have to choose to meet with him. We have to make time for Him in the mornings in order to experience the wonderful things that He has for us throughout our day. In Psalm 5:3, David says “Listen to my voice in the morning, Lord. Each morning I bring my request to you and wait expectantly.” I have to admit that there are definitely mornings that I do not get my quiet time in as I would like to. Sometimes I just picture Jesus sitting on the couch watching as I scurry out the door, yelling the at the kids, and stressing about all that I need to get done. I imagine that he shakes his head saying, "If she had only made a little time for me today, this day would have gone much differently."

Throughout the day I drink LOTS of water. I probably drink well over the 8 glasses of water a day and I feel so much better than I did when I was drinking 8 cans of soda a day. I’m kidding, I didn’t drink that much soda, but I did drink a lot. What’s so amazing about water is that it quenches your thirst for so much longer than soda. I am filled when I drink water, it gives my body what it needs to make it through the day.

Spiritually, our water should be Jesus. We can try to fill that thirst with so many other things just like we can try to fill our physical thirst with soda but it won’t last. We can try to fill it with money, we can try to fill it with inappropriate relationships, we can try to fill it with all sorts of stuff…but until we decide to let Jesus fill that void in our lives, let Jesus be our LIVING WATER, we will never quench that thirst. Just as Jesus told the woman at the well Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” John 4:14

I recently came across some of the benefits of drinking water and found it so interesting how closely they relate to our spiritual lives:

1. Lose Weight - Don’t you feel like you are carrying the weight of the world sometimes?
2. Better Mood - Jesus brings joy, happiness, and life.
3. Healthy Heart - Our hearts should be healthy spiritually and physically.
4. Pain Relief - Water helps our joints where Jesus can heal other pains that we are dealt in this lifetime

Finally each night before I go to bed, I love to enjoy a nice warm bubble bath with my favorite relaxing music playing and sometimes even treat myself to few candles. I love relaxing and just letting my worries fade away What do you think about when you think about relaxation…bubble baths, massages, soft music?

How many of us think about Jesus when we think about relaxation? I believe that Jesus provides more relaxation and rest than many of realize. Jesus says in Matthew 11:28 “ "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” At the end of the day, I believe that we need to unload all of the cares of the world at the cross just like we wash all of the dirt off of bodies in the bubble bath. Jesus wants all of our junk - the gossip we heard during the day, the criticism that was dealt our way, the betrayal from a friend, or maybe even trouble between you and your spouse. God wants all of it.He wants us to lay it at the cross and let him have it.

So hopefully by walking through my day with me, you have realized that Jesus can bring more beauty than any worldly thing or activity. However, when we take care of ourselves, we are able to enjoy the things that Jesus has for us. We feel better about ourselves and are able to make others feel better. We feel more comfortable, so we interact better with others. When we don’t feel good about ourselves, we tend to be negative, grumpy, and sometimes even lazy. God doesn’t want that. He has a much bigger plan for your life. God says in his word, “I know the plans that I have for you, They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.“ Jeremiah 29:11 So start taking care of yourself today. Make time for you. Make time for Jesus and ask Him to make you beautiful from the inside out. And remember, when you are having a bad hair day, Jesus loves you just the way that you are.