If you spend just two seconds viewing anything on your TV, you most assuredly will see gobs of female vanity, flesh and our obsession with the outward appearance.  It is so invasive and deceptive that even strong Christian women have fallen into its trap to their detriment.  Obsessive behavior of weigh loss, plastic surgery, the “most desired” look of thin body, white teeth, shiny hair, along with trendy designer-brand clothes and jewelry, expensive cars, vacations to exotic places,  all to be coveted after to be a "real live Barbie doll."  To be a beautiful Christian woman and teach our daughters likewise is a good thing but our beauty is not defined by "Hollywood," or "Stars” or “Idols" or the media.  We have the Scriptures to define how we are to look and live and it has volumes to say about it.  Yes, we are to be outwardly beautiful to look upon as our sisters Sarah, Esther, and Elizabeth were.  We are to be good stewards of all that Christ has made available to us for our bodies and minds to accomplish it but never are we to make "gods" of ourselves or become obsessed with those things.  Our outward beauty should reflect the inward beauty of a Christ-like heart and attitude.  Our motto: “Be beautiful, be lovely but be biblical.”

"True piety, instead of setting aside a single female excellence—clothes all female virtues with a Divine sanction—harmonizes the demands of God with the claims of man—converts the ordinary duties of domestic life into a means of preparation for that glorious world where the social ties no longer exist—and softens the cares, anxieties, and sorrows, with which woman's lot in this world is but too often sadly oppressed. Whatever else a woman may be—without true piety, she is lamentably deficient. "Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting." The face of a beautiful woman ought to be an index of the mind; and when all is beautiful on the outside—all should be glorious within. Never does outer beauty and elegance appear more revolting—than when seen united with an ill-furnished mind and an ill-favored heart. And yet how often do elegance of manners, and loveliness of person, conceal dispositions which are in total opposition to them, and bitterly disappoint the man who has been captivated by them—and who in his choice of a wife, has been led by no other considerations than mere external beauty and personal charms!"*

What a reminder to us as His daughters!  “…Man looks on the outward appearance but Jehovah looks on the heart.”  I Sam 16:7   May it be that our outward appearance is both beautiful on the outside and glorious within. 

Prayer
Beautiful Savior and Glorious Lord, help us as women to see the beauty of You and Your Word and to strive to obtain that beauty that grows more precious day by day.  Help us to be good stewards of all of those blessings You have given us in this life to help us have a pleasing appearance and be good stewards of our bodies and minds.  Strengthen us to reject vanity and the worldly motivations for beauty but rather beautify us for the good of our loved ones and your glory.  We ask You, our Bridegroom, as Your Beloved Bride, in Jesus Name, Amen.

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* “Female Piety,”  John Angell James

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