Beauty

Most of my life I believed the lie that I was ugly. It didn’t matter how much people told me otherwise, I just couldn’t fight it. That lie robbed me of so much joy and so much peace. I used to equate worth with beauty. I thought if I attained beauty maybe I’d somehow have more value. I so badly wanted to feel content, confident and at peace, but trying to find my worth in my beauty only left me discontent, jealous and constantly comparing myself to others.

Beauty is not what defines us. Seeking physical beauty only distracts us from what our soul craves. Many people want to feel confident, joyful, content and at peace, but few will find it because they seek the wrong things. Seeking what the world deems as important will never satisfy the soul. I use to be one of those people who sought everything the world deemed as important. I wanted what everyone else wanted “beauty, wealth, and popularity”, but seeking those things never gave me what I truly desired. What I needed wasn’t physical, it was spiritual.

It’s so easy to get distracted by what everyone else seems to be chasing after. In America we try and “keep up with the Jones”. We want more and better. We want bigger houses, more money, and faster cars. That’s exactly what I used to want, but those things never gave me what I needed. Seeking beauty was just another thing I thought I wanted, but it’s not as if I ever felt confident, content, or at peace seeking it. If you want complete honesty…. the more I sought beauty, the more and more I actually hated myself.

It wasn’t until I started seeking the Lord that I realized my thinking was slowly destroying me. I was believing so many lies and those lies kept me captive. I couldn't break free from the jealousy and discontentment…. it consumed me. It was the Lord that renewed my my mind and changed my thinking. It was through His words in scripture that I started learning how dysfunctional and destructive my thinking was. I thought I wanted physical beauty, but what my soul craved was inner beauty. Inner beauty comes alive as we seek the Lord. We cannot create our own inner beauty. It’s the Lord that creates that inside of us.

Don’t let the world or any other human being define if you are beautiful or not, it’s only God who has the power to do that. His truth says we are all valuable and cherished by Him. It’s the sin in this world and our brokenness that separates us. Humanity deems others less or more valuable because of physical appearance, wealth, fame, race, disabilities, mistakes, crimes, etc… God doesn’t see us on some kind of scale, but all as His beautiful creation. We are all equally loved by God and in His eyes no one has more or less value. If we could all stop believing the lie, think about how much we would come together in love. Sin wants to separates us, but God wants to unite us. If we could see ourselves and each other through God’s eyes, what beauty we would see.

"The Lord doesn’t see things the way (we) see them. People judge by outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” 1 Samuel 16:7

"Don’t be concerned about the outward beauty of fancy hairstyles, expensive jewelry, or beautiful clothes. You should clothe yourselves instead with the beauty that comes from within, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is so precious to God." 1 Peter 3:3-4