We’ve always heard that beauty is in the eyes of the beholder, could that be true or could that be farther from the truth? What if the beholder doesn’t know what beauty is? What if the beholder has a problem with recognising beauty? Well, let me clearly say this “beauty is more of a spiritual thing than physical”. There is more to beauty than the eyes can see. Let’s see it in the light of the scripture
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“Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as elaborate hairstyles and the wearing of gold jewelry or fine clothes. Rather, 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.” – 1 Peter 3:3-4
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Peter is communicating something very important here. First, he debunked the idea of attributing beauty to our physical appearances, he didn’t discourage us from having make-ups or wearing good clothes, he is simply saying that those things aren’t factors of defining what beauty is. Beauty flows from the inner self and such beauty that flows from the inside cannot fade because it is of a gentle and quiet spirit which is a treasure in God’s sight.
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Beauty can be cultivated. When our beauty is based on how we look, it won’t take a long time to fade but when it is based on our inner disposition, our character of kindness, love and patience which God appreciates, it cannot fade away. It is unfortunate how many people trust their outward appearance, they trust it to a point that they become very arrogant thinking they are the best when their inner disposition isn’t gracious.
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First, I want to establish the fact that God made everyone of us beautiful and unique. Those beauties are hidden in us like gold and diamonds are hidden on earth. We can only cultivate beauty from the inside of us so that the world can see. Let me give you a picture of how different it is to define beauty from the outward appearance to the inward disposition. Treasures such as gold isn’t something you pick on the road like stones, hence it ceases to be treasured. People have to toil for gold and even when they get it, it has to be refined so that it’s beauty can be seen with the eyes. However, there are also lots of shiny jewelries out there that are very cheap and so affordable even among beggars! They are shiny, sometimes they appear even more beautiful than real gold! When we get them for the first time, it appears to be the best but in a short time, the gold coat begins to fall off and we start to see the real state of such jewelries. Their beauty doesn’t last long. This is how it is with humans.
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Like I noted earlier, God made everyone of us beautiful! We are golds that needs to be refined for our true beauty to surface. There are lots of people who look very attractive and still end up being very bad in their character and then you see people running away from them and finding them even less attractive. That is because, even though their physical appearance is shiny, they have a terrible character… They ooze ugliness from the inside but coat it with beauty which isn’t true! Remember, beauty is what we cultivate by being refined from the inside out!
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I still have problem with how the world defines beauty. Who gave them the criteria of defining what beauty is? What is the measuring unit of beauty? What is the formula for defining beauty? Who told them that what they call beauty is truly beauty and how can they prove and defend that they are correct with their hypothesis? No man, not even one man on earth came into the world as ugly! God never ever formed an ugly man… The last time I checked, the Bible has not been updated because the Bible is up to date! The Bible says that when God formed man, He saw the man (and woman) is good and He blessed them! As long as we are created in God’s image (Genesis 1:27), then we are very beautiful because God is beautiful beyond compare! However, we must cultivate that beauty for people to see.
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You cannot cultivate beauty when you do not know you have it inside of you. So many people feel very terrible when they aren’t looking like their neighbor who is been celebrated for her looks. If you physically look adorable, that is awesome! But your physical appearance isn’t your true beauty, if you can cultivate and bring forth gracious characters that are pleasing to God, your true beauty will be felt. You need to know your identity first, you need to know who you are because if a son doesn’t know he is an heir to the throne, he may as well do what servants are doing but the moment he realises he is a prince and a potential king, he will begin to act like one. We can’t expect him to act like one when he is ignorant of his personality. Therefore, you can only cultivate beauty when your identity has been defined.
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Are you yet to discover who you are? Let me give you a clue of where you can begin your journey of discovery. Paul wrote in Ephesians 2:10
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“For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”
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You see that? If you have not been made good, good stuffs cannot be demanded of you. If you are not a royalty, a regalia will not be demanded of you! God designed you in a way that you can decide for yourself how you are defined. Beauty is truly not in the eyes of the beholder, it is you who defines your beauty and not people around you! Until you come to terms with yourself and begin to cultivate beauty, people around you will be misleaded with your physical appearance. They will define you based on your make-up and not based on your true identity. Have you seen a situation where people say “oh, that girl used to be very beautiful last week but today she isn’t looking that way… Maybe she forgot to apply her make-ups”. We have also said that about people in one way or another because we have wrongly thought beauty to be dependent on what people wear.
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While addressing the teachers of the law in Matthew 23:28, Jesus said boldly
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“In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness.”
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This will tell you that we don’t define people by their appearance but by their inner disposition. Some people may appear so good and charming, but their inside is full of dirts, not because God didn’t design them to be good but because they ignored the beauty inside and decided to coat themselves with attractive stuffs but of no value! No wonder, the wise man who authored Proverbs cried out for us to hear saying
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“Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting; but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised.” – Proverbs 31:30
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What does he mean by “charm?” He isn’t talking about magical spells but a physical quality that makes someone likeable for a moment, these qualities can be sponsored by the cosmetics we use and the clothes we wear but it doesn’t keep people or make us acceptable for ever, the only thing that does that is beauty that comes from the inside. The beauty of the inside cannot be fully cultivated when our respect and reverence for God is lacking! The wise man said that the woman a man should sought for isn’t the one who looks to beautiful on the outside but Godless in the inside!
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Have you wondered what made a man break up with a very attractive woman and got married to a woman considered less attractive? Have wondered why a woman broke up with a handsome man and got married to another man considered less attractive? It is because there are qualities they saw in the later! Do not trust your physical appearance, rather, cultivate that beauty within! You cannot do that without having Jesus! When you accept Jesus and receive the Holy Spirit, He begins to produce in you fruits what you need and when you yield yourself to the Spirit, you see yourself bringing forth these fruits (Galatians 5:22).
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This doesn’t mean you ignore your physical looks and appear unkempt. Your physical appearance can attract people, but the beauty that comes from within is what keeps them to you and make you stay relevant. Let your physical appearance be good but don’t bet on it, you must cultivate beauty from the inside.
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You are beautiful, you are very unique and it doesn’t matter how people judge your appearance. The day you understand that you’re the one who defines what you look like is the day you liberate yourself from the shackles of public opinions. When I was much younger, I lived in fear of how people defined me and because I never believed in myself, I didn’t do what I was supposed to do. Because I never knew I was a royalty, I walked in shame always and was afraid to associate with people. However, when I started growing in the knowledge of God’s word, I discovered my identity in Christ. If God gave me big eyes, why worry about that? He loves those eyes and that’s why He gave them to me! If God gave me big head and big mouth, why stress myself about that? He loves them and gave it to me. I didn’t create myself, He created me and therefore I am supposed to be walking in that assurance that I am “God’s unique product” sealed with His own trademark. Understanding this opened me up, and suddenly people’s confession about me changed because I got my definition as started walking in it.
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To you right there, you are very beautiful and unique… You just need to cultivate your true beauty and it begins with rejecting your trust in yourself and trust in Jesus!
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God bless you!
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