I don't like the world's definition of beauty. According to dictionary.com, to be beautiful is as follows: the quality present in a thing or person that gives intense pleasure or deep satisfaction to the mind, whether arising from sensory manifestations (as shape, color, sound, etc.), a meaningful design or pattern, or something else (Dictionary.com).
So let me get this straight. For me to be beautiful, I need to provide someone's mind intense pleasure or deep satisfaction?
That's absurd.
"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. For this is the way the holy women of the past who put their hope in God used to make themselves beautiful. They were submissive to their own husbands, like Sarah, who obeyed Abraham and called him her master. You are her daughters if you do what is right and do not give way to fear" (1 Peter 3:4-6).
God's definition of a beautiful woman, which is of great worth in His sight, has nothing to do with the intense physical pleasure or deep satisfaction that the world pleads for us to believe. It does, however, have everything to do with the radiating, surrendered spirit a woman in refinement posesses. Paul describes such beauty as unfading.
We're born with strong wills. We want to do our own thing, to have our own dreams, to let our own personalities shine through. But that isn't what God deems beautiful. It isn't natural for a human to have a gentle and quiet spirit. It must be cultivated, and it starts with an entire gutting out of self. We must say, "God, rip me open and rid me of everything that is not of You!" It is painful. It is messy. It is not pretty. However, the product is the beginnings of beauty: an emptied vessel. Then, when this emptied person invites the Word of God to fill her up, Beauty begins to fill all the holes, cracks, and crevises that was once occupied by darkness, self, and death. She is filled with new life, new breath, new will. Often, the self will attempt to surface but by God's grace, Divine strength, and stubborn endurance, she will die daily to herself over and over again for the purpose of giving God glory one more day.
Ladies, we put so much effort into bringing out our physical beauty, but our inner self is dying, decaying, and rotting. We wake up with a self-focus, get ready for the day with a self-focus, and carry about each task, thought, and action with a self-focus. Even when we read the Word, pray, and serve God's people, we think of our selves. Don't you think it's time we get rid of the SELF that is so dominating and so concieted? Can we live a completely poured-out life for Christ and be filled with everything that is Him? It is time we actually live what we are preaching. We cannot honestly say we are surrendered to Christ when there are two wills, two plans, two mind-sets. Sacrifice your will. Sacrifice your dreams. Sacrifice your personality. Nail them to the cross because we have no right to bear even ourselves. Invite the Holy Spirit to transform you. Open the Word to fill you. Pray in great gratitude and thansgiving, begging God to give you strength to fight even your own flesh. It's our biggest battle, but praise God, His blood is enough and He promised me He'd fight for me if I just be still and know He is God.
Oh. And my whole point in writing this, lol, is for you to read this article. I guess I kind of went on a rabbit trail... Oh well. :) Here's the link: http://setapartgirl.com/article-FEB-thelostartoftruebeauty.html
In His Love,
Steph
Jesus, I want to be beautiful.
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