“[Femininity] is a gift, a divine gift, to be accepted with both hands, and to thank God for. Because, remember, it was His idea.” –Elisabeth Elliot
Years ago Christian women thought that to be spiritual they had to “look” spiritual: plain hair, plain clothes, plain shoes, plain faces, plain everything.
This just isn’t so.
God doesn’t want us to be overly concerned with our appearance, but it’s OK to look like a. . .woman.
1 Peter 3:3-5 says: “Your beauty should not come from outward adornment. . .Instead, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight. For this is the way the holy women of the past who put their hope in God used to make themselves beautiful.”
The Bible mentions several holy women of the past who possessed great beauty, including Sarah, Rachel, Esther and Bathsheba. In no way did God condemn them for looking good. Nor did he dismiss the less-than-gorgeous like Leah or those pained by illness like the unnamed woman who touch the hem of Jesus’ garment and experienced healing or the lepers, the outcasts of the day, forced to remain outside the city gates and say “unclean, unclean” when a healthy person came near.
You too may consider yourself “unclean” or at least un-beautiful. Our culture idolizes youth. It bows down to starlets with perfect hair, perfect teeth and perfect skin. And, unless you have Oprah status and can get away with a fuller, far more real figure, you may think you’d look OK, maybe, if you lost 20 pounds, or 40 or, like my mom, 125.
The truth: You are beautiful now.
Your beauty comes from the inside. You shine Jesus. Real beauty comes from him. Proverbs 31 puts it this way: “Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting, but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised.”
Outer beauty doesn’t last. With age come wrinkles, gray hair, sunspots and sagging skin. And usually weight gain. What matters most: inner beauty. Every woman in Christ has the inner beauty that the Apostle Peter spoke of.
I challenge you: Think out of the Botox!
Embrace your beauty inner beauty that comes hand-in-wonderfully manicured hand with your identity in Christ. You are his Beloved. Don’t you forget it.
