BIBLICAL HOMES:  What makes a woman beautiful?  Is it her hair, clothes, beauty of face or physical attractiveness?

Let’s face it, all of these physical attributes of a woman make her very attractive to the opposite sex, but that which is on the inside of a woman makes her even more beautiful.

The media minds try to tell us what beauty is, but this is a superficial beauty.  They tell us how we should look each given season of the year, or what styles of clothing to wear. And in case you don’t believe we are influenced by the media, movies and television, let me name some names.  Brittany Spears, Cher, and Madonna are just the tip of the immoral iceberg.  Tattoos can now be seen in any local school or Walmart sported about in unmentionable places on young women.  You see it everywhere.  And to show off those tattoos girls and women trying to emulate these stars will buy abbreviated clothing to show off those tattoos as well.  This is not the attire of a faithful woman of God.

We have been sold, and have believed Hollywood’s version of beauty.  If we maintain the right weight, look the right way, wear the right clothes, and sport the latest in hairstyles, Hollywood and the fashion world says we will be accepted and sought after.  But in reality, these exterior manifestations of beauty pass away with time. They have no lasting value, for in time we all age, and no cosmetic can cover what is written on our souls, or what proceeds from our hearts.  In time beauty will fade, but those intangible assets given through His Word and imprinted upon the heart of a woman will make her more beautiful than any woman inside the pages of a fashion magazine.

I know of one woman in our congregation who is like this.  Her name is Anna, and her soul is just as beautiful as her name.  When I think of Christian beauty, I think of Anna.  She is well loved by each and every member of the congregation.  She always gives me a hug and a kiss and tells me “You smell so good.”  She is such a fine Christian lady….and a lady in every sense of the word.

God views our outward appearance much differently, for He looks upon our hearts.  To have beautiful hearts we must apply His principles to our lives and be the Godly women we should be.  God has placed woman on a pedestal.  It is only the media which continually tries to tell women otherwise.  Woman is unique in the role God has given her.

“Favour is deceitful and beauty is vain:  but a woman that feareth the Lord, she shall be praised.”     Proverbs 31:30

“Keep thy heart with all diligence;  for out of it are the issues of life.”    Proverbs 4:23

“Whose adorning let it not be that outward adorning of plaiting the hair, and of wearing of gold or of putting on apparel;  But let it be the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price.”    I Peter 3:3-4

As Christian women we should try and look as attractive as we can.  I know of no boyfriend,  husband, nor husband to be who does not want his loved one to look her best.  But let us not have a superficial beauty the media portrays,  all show and no substance, but the adornment of our hearts with the Christian virtues given by God, which makes us much sought after in the right way, and held in the highest respect from others who are in our presence.  For how we present ourselves, and the words of our mouth give way to what is in our hearts.

“Beauty is not in the face;  beauty is a light in the heart.”      ~ Kahlil Gibran

“He said, You become.  It takes a long time.  That’s why it doesn’t happen often to people who break easily, or have sharp edges, or who have to be carefully kept.  Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in the joints and very shabby.  But these things don’t matter at all, because once you are Real you can’t be ugly, except to people who don’t understand.”        ~ The Velveteen Rabbit

Eileen Light