Beauty is in the Eye of the Beholder
In
December I won a pageant. It was
very fun, and I worked very hard to get it.
There were a lot of things I had to do to get ready. I practiced my speech and my interview
skills. I got new clothes and
shoes. I hired a coach and practiced and
practiced walking, and standing, and walking some more. I lost weight and whitened my teeth. I had to make by body look as good as I
could. I wanted to win. I even
took a picture out of a magazine and put it where I would see it every day. It is of the woman who just won Miss
America. Her stomach muscles where
amazing. I thought if she won, that is
what I needed to look like to win. The
girl in the picture looked like I thought I wanted to look. She had toned arms, she was skinny and she
had beautiful hair. I kept this picture
to supposedly help me achieve my goal – I wanted to look like this Miss America. But I realized that this was only
negative. I was coveting what someone
else had. I was coveting Miss
America. Trying to become her. Instead of trying to copy someone else, I
needed to be the best me that I could be.
The problem with comparing ourselves to other people (especially people
in magazines) is that often these images aren’t even realistic.
How
about you? Have you ever found yourself
comparing yourself to someone else? Have
you ever felt hopeless because you woke up and your nose was covered with zits? Have you ever just flung yourself on your bed
and laid there wondering if the world would even know if you were gone? Have you ever completely avoided looking in
the mirror because it made you feel so bad?
Comparing ourselves to other people is never going to make us feel
better.
Since we
have all been little girls, the quest to be beautiful has bombarded us at every
turn. From children’s stories such as Cinderella, to the Barbie doll we played
with, we are told that physical beauty must be our priority. Now that you’re older, you are under even
more pressure to be beautiful. TV, movies
and music tell you that if you want to be beautiful you have to look a certain
way, dress a certain way, and have a certain type of body.
We’ve
all looked in the mirror only to see a face that didn’t measure up to the
current standards of beauty and we’ve all ended up feeling discouraged, but we
cannot let the tiny flaws that we see in ourselves rule our lives.
What
we see on the TV and magazines is an unrealistic expectation of what a
beautiful human body is supposed to look like.
Did you know that the average model weighs 23% less than everyone else? We can’t even hope to compare to who the
world says we should be. But I have good
news…
The
God who slung the stars across the heaven… that God, the King, has always been in
love with you. He created you. You are
perfect. He thinks you’re beautiful. Cinderella’s glass slipper fits, the music is
playing and He’s asking you to dance.
The
Bible is way ahead of us in showing the beauty myth for what it is. God knows what He thinks a beautiful woman
should look like. I know that God is
always right, so I want to believe what He believes about beauty. I want to believe what He believes about me!
1
Samuel 16:7 But the Lord said to
Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him.
The Lord does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward
appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”
The
Bible is not saying that the outer appearance doesn’t matter. Its saying don’t let it define you. Don’t let it stress you out. Don’t make beauty your most important
priority; and never let it replace the more important parts of your life. Outer beauty is nothing more than packaging
unless your inner content is good. God
is saying our outside beauty doesn’t matter unless our inside beauty is what
really shines.
Have
you ever met a girl who just looked so cool, but then she turned out to be a
snob? Did you notice how her beauty
faded once you got to know who she was on the inside? Of course maybe you’ve also
known that girl who at first glance doesn’t seem beautiful, but the more you
are around her the more fabulous she looks to you. That’s internal beauty you’re seeing. Beauty that shines from the inside, is what
makes us truly beautiful. I think we
could call it fashion for our hearts.
We are
called by God to wear things on our insides too. Here are some verses that tell us what God
wants me to put on.
Proverbs
31:25 “She is clothed with strength
and dignity; she can laugh at the days to come.”
Ephesians 6:13-17 “Therefore put on the full armor of God, so
that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and
after you have done everything, to stand.
Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with
the breast plate of righteousness in place.
And with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel
of peace. In addition to all this take
up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of
the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation
and the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God.”
1 Timothy 2:9-10 “I also want women to dress modestly, with
decency and propriety, not with braided hair or gold pearls or expensive
cloths, but with good deeds, appropriate for women who profess to worship God.”
1 Peter 3:3-4 “Your beauty should not
come from outward adornment, such as braided hair and the wearing of gold
jewelry and fine cloths. Instead, it
should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quite
spirit.”
None
of us can fake inner beauty, inner beauty is the way a women looks, feels,
thinks, and acts. It is the way God
wants women, women like you, like me to look, feel, think, and act.
The
more we live our life for God, the more beautiful we become on the inside. The only way to get the beauty God wants us
to have, is to spend time with Him. I
have something for you to think about tonight. Yesterday, approximately how
many minutes did you spend on your appearance (Outer Beauty)? Approximately how many minutes did you spend
on you relationship with God (Inner Beauty)?
I can
honestly tell you that yesterday, I didn’t spend enough time with God. I need more of Him and less of me. When I won the title of Mrs. North Dakota
International 2014, I committed the year to God. I want to make every minute of this year count,
by being the beautiful woman on the inside that God has created me to be. I want my inner beauty to shine with God’s
light. I am called to let my “light so
shine before men, that they will see my good works and give glory to my Father
in heaven.” Matthew 5:17
I am
not going to lie to you, I want to be beautiful on the outside too. Right now as Mrs. ND International, it is my
job to look as beautiful on the outside as I can. I am working hard on my appearance. I want to be able to win the next title in
July. But as I am working on my outside
body, I am going to work on my inside too.
I can’t expect to lose any weight, until I’ve lost myself in Jesus.
So
there you have it… that’s all there is to it.
I am ready to lose myself in Jesus, come lose yourself with me. Together we are becoming beautiful women of
God.
Blessings
Janelle
Steinberg, Mrs. North Dakota International 2014