Precious In His Sight: Real Beauty Revealed

A perfectly defined stomach. These shoes. Long, slender legs.  This brand of clothing. An hourglass figure. Make up “on fleek”…outward perfection. Outward. Perfection. The world is ever shoving these standards of beauty in our faces, and demanding that we reach them. Every single, stinkin’ one of em. And if we fail to do so, we find ourselves feeling all kinds of awful.

From little girls, the desire to be desired, to be beautiful is so present within us. And the pursuit of beauty doesn’t end at the dress up princess gowns, but grows as we grow.  Ugly weeds of comparison and dissatisfaction grow there beside it, as we become more and more self aware. More and more disgusted at our own bodies as we try desperately to match the world’s ideas and standards of a beautiful woman. These weeds begin to grow deeper into our hearts, rooting themselves within us as low self confidence, eating disorders, depression, and absolute self repulsion.

But is it so wrong? Is it wrong to desire to be beautiful? To desire be desired? To pursue beauty? If we left it at merely that…then, no, it wouldn’t be. But I think without realizing it entirely, we gals idolize it. And that is when it becomes wrong. When we become so caught up with our image matching that desired by the world, that we forget to match our image with that desired by God. That worldly standards, that are in reality of very little to no importance, become our minds’ masters. Our “goals” that we obsess over. Abhor ourselves over. When we become discontent, ungrateful, dissatisfied, envious…bitter. When we are grossed out, and we loathe what has been called “fearfully and wonderfully made”…what Our Creator, created….

Society has a way of getting into our heads at times, shifting our focus off of what we should be obsessed with, the kind of beauty our Savior so desires for us to pursue. What He thinks is beautiful. Where the real fulfillment lies. We will never be perfect, in any way, fashion, or form–especially to society. But as daughters of the One True King we have all inherited the opportunity to become absolutely, uniquely, and authentically lovely. To be considered beautiful by God is so much more of an honor, and so tremendously more fulfilling than that of the world we live in.

1 Samuel 16:7 “...For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.”

1 Peter 3:3-4 says, “Do not let your adorning be external—the braiding of hair and the putting on of gold jewelry, or the clothing you wear— but let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God’s sight is very precious.” 

In these two verses the Bible tells us that our outward appearance is what people look at, what they see, and what they most often base their judgments upon. And then, we are reminded that man’s ways are definitely not God’s ways, that our hearts, our hidden person, is where He finds beauty–or lack thereof. A reminder that outward beauty fades, but the beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit are imperishable. Oh to be deemed as “very precious” by God! Wow, how incredible would that be?! Um, stinkin’ awesome.

So the question is, how can we ladies be lovely to God, the one who we should strive to be so for the most? What should we pursue to become precious in His sight? To be an authentically beautiful woman?

Proverbs 31:30, “Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting, but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised.”

 Psalm 147:10-11 “His delight is not in the strength of the horse, nor his pleasure in the legs of a man, but the Lord takes pleasure in those who fear him, in those who hope in his steadfast love.” A woman who loves her Savior, who dedicates her life to Him, who works hard to please Him, whose heart is devoted to her Heavenly Father, is the kind of woman who is deserving of praise, the kind of woman to stand out and impress God himself.

Proverbs 3:3-4, “Let mercy and faithfulness never leave you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart. Then you will win favor and a good name in the sight of God and man.” We were created in the image of God, and as daughters of Him our lives and characters are to be a reflection of His. Proverbs 11:16 says that, “A gracious woman gets honor…” We are to be merciful, faithful, and gracious to people, just as He unfailingly is so to us. We are honoring him when we are such. We are setting an example and acting as ambassadors for the God we serve, so making sure we mirror the beauty of our King is of the utmost importance. And when we do, God says that in his eyes, we are honorable!

Proverbs 11:22 “Like a gold ring in a pigs snout is a beautiful woman without discretion.” To be physically beautiful but to foolishly throw yourself around in the world, to be of no character, to have no respect for yourself or those around you…is worthless. A sad waste. Romans 8:7-8 says,”For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.” We cannot be pleasing to God if we are frivolous, foolish, silly, women with the mindset of pleasing the world. The Bible says that as Christians, the world will never like us, in fact it will hate us (Matt. 10:22). We will never live up to any of its standards, and neither should we try! We should be spiritually minded. Concerned about the things of The Lord, and striving to live up to his standards always.

1 Timothy 3:11 tells us that, “In the same way, the women are to be worthy of respect, not malicious talkers but temperate and trustworthy in everything.” We are, as Paul says here in Timothy, to be worthy of respect, to say/talk/and speak of things that are pleasing to the Lord (….buh bye juicy gossip, ya gotta go!), to have self control, be clear minded, trustworthy, and dependable! Wow, what a woman, right?! (insert heart eyes emoji here! #actualgoals)

Proverbs 31:10, “Who can find a virtuous woman? for her price is far above rubies.” A Godly woman, of great and noble character, is Biblically worth far and beyond this earth’s riches. She is unique. She is unlike the world, so unlike everyone else. Authentic. Worthy of honor. Worthy of praise! And her Heavenly Father has named her so. She is not perfect, but she finds her satisfaction, her contentment, her fulfillment in Christ and in Christ alone. She seeks not to be a ring of gold in the nose of a swine, not to conform to the patterns and standards of this world, but to daily and ever be precious in His sight.