Beautiful, Inside and Out

I was dress shopping today and had to try a few things on.
There was only one fitting room available.

I could see two sets of feet in the dressing room next to me.
One set belonged to an adult and one set belonged to a child.

I remember the days of trying things on when I had a little one with me.
I don’t know if the mom bought anything, but what a blessing to have heard snippets of their conversation.

Whatever the mom tried on, the little girl thought she was beautiful.
You look so pink. Just like my crayon at home.
That one is so blue-ish.
I could make a picture of you.

I smiled at her innocence.

Mommy, you are so beau-ti-ful…the precious little one exclaimed making sure all the syllables were distinctly heard.
Her mother epitomized beauty.

I kept thinking about something I always said to my children.
You are beautiful…inside and out.

I wanted them to know there were two types of beauty.
The inner beauty that God looks at when He looks at our hearts.
The outer beauty that the world sees and holds in such high esteem.

The Lord does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart. (1 Samuel 16:7)

The world does not have an absolute standard of beauty.
Fashion dictates what is beautiful.
Madison Avenue sets the trends.

Models on runways have “the look” which changes all the time.
Impressionable young girls strive to look just like the girls they see in magazines.
It doesn’t seem to matter that they have been airbrushed, or cosmetically altered.
Young girls want to achieve that standard of beauty.

As Christians, bearing His name, shouldn’t we hold out a better way?
We all have days when we look in the mirror and don’t like what we see.
Hips, stomach, wrinkles, too tall, too short, too fat, too thin…

When a young person hears us constantly griping about the outside, our words concerning the inside won’t mean very much.
Which type of beauty gets more of our time and attention?

We have all experienced this scenario.
We see someone who appears flawless.
They open their mouth…their heart speaks.
That outer beauty fades very quickly.

Or we have experienced just the opposite.
We see someone who appears ordinary, somewhat plain.
They open their mouth…their heart exudes such a beautiful countenance and joy.
They are absolutely, exquisitely beautiful.

It is important for us to take care of the outside…we are His ambassadors, after all.
But we must remember that we are beautiful because we are made in His image.
He has made everything beautiful in its time. (Ecclesiastes 3:11)
That is a beauty the world cannot achieve or duplicate.

As believers, we are being sanctified (made holy) every day by the power of His Spirit.
As we walk with Him, talk to Him in prayer, and spend time in His Word, we grow more beautiful and begin to look more like Him.

One thing I ask of the Lord, this is what I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to seek Him in His temple.(Psalm 27:4)

The little girl in the dressing room was right.
Without even knowing it, her standard of beauty was more in line with God’s.
It didn’t matter what her mom tried on…she was just beautiful.

John, in his gospel, called himself the disciple that Jesus loved (John 13:23).
We can indeed call ourselves the beautiful one…when our hearts belong to Him.

Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as braided hair and the wearing of gold jewelry and fine clothes. 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.
(1 Peter 3:3,4)