beauty v1

"charm is deceitful and beauty is vain, but a woman who fears the Lord will be praised." ~ Proverbs 31:30

What is beauty? What does it mean to be beautiful?

God created us to admire, love, and appreciate beauty. We want beautiful homes and gardens, we want to go to beautiful places, smell beautiful flowers, and ultimately over all, we want to be beautiful.

In the short time I have lived, I have noticed that beauty has tremendous meaning and value to the women in our day. They paint, powder, and dust themselves until they think they look truly beautiful, or rather, until they fit into Hollywood's standards of beauty. Despite how absorbed our culture is with all things beautiful, we often mistake what real beauty is. Too often, we are influenced by the images we see in the media and in the world at large and allow these images to determine for us what is or is not beautiful. 

To desire beauty is not unwomanly but real beauty does not come from the face, but from the heart. There is a beauty that is so deep and lasting that it will shine through the plainest face. A godly, caring, loving character will make any girl beautiful and this is the beauty to be sought and desired. In Proverbs 31:30 God says "charm is deceitful and beauty is vain, but a woman who fears the Lord will be praised."

Let us remember that beauty does not recommend us to God, nor does it show wisdom or goodness. Rather, it is a fickle thing that can be deceitful and even God-given outer beauty can expose the soul to such temptation that it will eventually ruin its virtue. Sometimes beauty can become an object of idolatry. The meaning of "beauty" in Koine Greek was associated with "being of one's hour." A ripe fruit (of its time) was considered beautiful and a young girl blossoming into womanhood is beautiful (in her own time). Consequently, a young woman who is trying to appear older or an older woman trying to appear younger will not be beautiful. 

Beauty is not permanent -- it can be destroyed by various diseases, it will certainly wither with old age, and eventually it will perish. Real beauty, however, will never die, and we should remember that the fear of God reigning in the heart is the real beauty of the soul.