You’re ugly.
You’re fat.
Your legs aren’t long enough.
Your hair isn’t shiny enough.
Your skin isn’t smooth enough.
BUT, I have great news!
If you just buy these diamond earrings, this delicious meal replacement shake, these designer shoes, this conditioning shampoo, and these department store lotions, you, too, can be beautiful (read: accepted, valued, loved).
Sound familiar? If not, then maybe you’ve never turned on a TV, opened a magazine or read a billboard. The pressure to be ‘beautiful’ bombards us every day from every angle. And the voices never stop. They beckon, lure, mock, lie, seduce, condemn and sometimes… kill.
But, there is another Voice.
One that also beckons, but with gentleness, compassion and truth. This voice speaks a different message. A message Life. Of Restoration. Of Unconditional Love. And this Voice has its own definition of beauty…
“The Lord sees not as man sees. For man looks at outward appearance,
but the Lord looks at the heart” 1 Samuel 16:17
“Your beauty should come from within you; the beauty… that will never be destroyed and is very precious to God.” 1 Peter 3:4
The world puts so much focus on outward appearance, that far too often, the inside is left to rot away. But God warns us about this very thing in the Bible:
“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which on the outside appear beautiful, but inside they are full of…
all uncleanness.” Matthew 23:27
So, what is God’s definition of beauty?
Beauty is fighting against injustice.
Beauty is obeying God’s Command to care for the broken.
Beauty is sacrificing your own comfort for somebody else’s gain.
Beauty is using your unique gifts for His Glory.
Beauty is honour, integrity, compassion, mercy, truth, humility, love.
So, the next time you feel the desire to become more beautiful, I pray that you are able to recognize whose Voice you’re following and where it’s leading you. And when you truly know the Voice of the Father and the beauty He is calling you to; I pray that you pursue it with reckless abandon; and that you become more beautiful each and every day.
A Girl After God's Heart 
