The Truth About Beauty
Part 2

Knowledge Is Power

Written by Heather Hart

I have a saying that I love. I actually made it the wallpaper on my laptop. Here’s what it says:

Let’s be honest, do you believe that? Do you believe you are flawless? For 90% of my life, I would have thought you were crazy if you had told me that, so I won’t be surprised if you feel the same way.

I mentioned earlier that I was born with cancer. It was called retinal blastoma. Basically, tumors were growing on the retina of my right eye. At the time, the safest thing to do was remove the whole eye, so I have essentially lived my whole life with a prosthetic.

But because of Jesus, I have hope.

Several years ago, I was reading through Song of Songs (or Song of Solomon depending on your Bible). And I stumbled across a verse that stopped me in my tracks. Just a little background for you, Song of Songs is a love story between Solomon and his bride. But on a deeper level, it represents Christ’s love for us, because we are the bride of Christ (2 Corinthians 11:2-3; Ephesians 5:25; Revelation 22:17).

Here’s what the verse said, “You are altogether beautiful, my darling; there is no flaw in you” (4:7*). No flaw. I felt flawed. I looked flawed. But I knew the Bible was true to the very last word. So I had some soul searching to do.

Would I believe what God's Word said about me, or would I believe my bathroom mirror?

There are a few Bible verses that are always go-to verses when we talk about true Beauty that we haven’t mentioned yet.

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 people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.’”

1 Peter 3:3-4 – “Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as elaborate hairstyles and the wearing of gold jewelry or fine clothes. Rather, 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.”

The heart is where our true beauty comes from. It’s what God is looking at. I always stopped at the verse in Samuel and got stuck on the fact that people do look on outward appearances. I would think that God may have crafted us and designed us to be flawless in His eyes, but no one else would see it. But that’s not really true either.

Think of it this way:

Have you ever met someone that was drop dead gorgeous on the outside, but had an ugly personality? Maybe she was mean or rude, or self-centered. Whatever it was, she might be pretty on the outside, but that was the only thing people liked about her? She wasn’t truly beautiful, she was just easy on the eyes. Her heart, where true beauty comes from, wasn’t beautiful at all.

Now, think of one of the nicest, kindest women you know. Chances are, she has an internal beauty that radiates out like Shelley mentioned earlier. She may not be a knockout by the worlds standards (or maybe she is) but what really endears her to others is the quiet beauty of her heart.

I was looking at some of the women at my church a few weeks back and I realized that the ones that I admire the most, the ones I think are beautiful, aren’t perfect. They struggle with acne (or scars it left behind). Not a single one is smaller than a size 6 (in fact, most of them would be considered overweight).

They all have their own quirks, but they are all beautiful.

Not because of what’s on the outside, but because of their hearts. In fact, for years I have looked right past their outer appearances without a second thought. I just knew they were beautiful.

All of that led me to ask myself the following question:

If I can look past the outer appearance of others to see the true beauty of their hearts, why do I think others aren’t doing the same thing when they look at me?

The media may tell us that we have to portrait a certain image to be beautiful, but through Christ I have found that there is more to being beautiful than what meets the eyes. True beauty isn't just skin deep, and you don't have to be a size three with a flawless face to be beautiful. True beauty blossoms from the depths of our hearts.

True beauty isn't just skin deep, and you don't have to be a size three with a flawless face to be beautiful. True beauty blossoms from the depths of our hearts.

What about you?

Have you been settling for this world’s beauty instead of discovering your true beauty?

If so, we encourage you to discover the truth about beauty. Ask God to help you change your thoughts and desires about beauty, and He will. It may not be instant, but He will slowly begin to change you from the inside out! 

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