Much like the word "love," the word beauty has seemed to have suffered much misunderstanding and prejudice. Because of this, it appears that most people fall into one of these two camps: the belief that beauty is intrinsically evil, or that we are the source of beauty. Both are ugly (pun intended) beliefs about one of the most stunning and glorious words in any language's vocabulary, for when we fail to recognize God's purpose for beauty, we are not only missing out on an essential attribute of God, we pass over a thousand opportunities to praise Him. Similarly, if we claim beauty as our own, we lie about who God is and not only deny Him a thousand thanks, we steal His glory for ourselves.
Let me explain further.
What is the most beautiful thing to God?
When I first asked myself that question, the answer that first came to mind was His creation.
Certainly His handiwork is beautiful, but I believe the answer is actually Himself. Besides the fact that nothing and no one can be compared to Him, this is why: Holiness is often called 'beautiful' in the Bible. (Holiness is beautiful - 2 Chronicles 20:21, Psalm 29:2, Psalm 96:6, 1 Chronicles 16:29, etc.)
Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness.
~ Psalm 29:2
Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God will shine forth.
~ Psalm 50:2
Zion is the holy hill, and is made beautiful because of God's glorious indwelling. Therefore, one could even say that Asaph was calling God the perfection of beauty. Besides the fact that he just IS the perfection of beauty, what is Zion without God? (Psalm 9:11, Psalm 68:16.)
God is most holy, (Psalm 22:3, 1 Samuel 2:2, etc.) and He is most beautiful. (Psalm 27:4.) Therefore I conclude that the most beautiful thing to Himself is His holy self. Consequently, the most beautiful thing He can see in us is a reflection of Himself - holiness.
But as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct because it is written, "Be holy, for I am holy."
~ 1 Peter 1:15-16
Also, it says in another place,
"Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness."
~ Psalm 29:2
Therefore, holiness is beautiful, and the supreme beautiful thing. Because the only thing that is completely holy is God, he is the most beautiful thing - to Himself, and also to us.
Holiness describes each one of God's attributes, and because God is so harmonious, and because He is the author of beauty, beauty is always harmonious, too. Try to think of three beautiful things in your mind.
This is a 'Common Kingfisher'! Why is something so common decked with such beauty?! Notice the harmony, precision, and order displayed in this bird's magnificent design.
I'm pretty sure that the common denominator between all of the things you picked is that they were designed with precision and order, and fit together in a cohesive, harmonious way. For example, in recent years, a study called "The Golden Ratio of Beauty Phi" has come out which is basically a measurement system which Plastic Surgeons have found they can use to measure beauty in the human face, based on spacing and angles. Now, while it is foolish to look it up in order to measure/compare yourself, I do find it fascinating that even physical beauty can be scientifically measured, because it follows a rule, pattern, you might say a law. When anything does follow God's previously designed structures, it becomes harmonious and seems to sing a song of its own. This is beauty. Holiness is moral perfection. It is following God's good and perfect laws. When we do so, we reflect Him in the way that He always harmoniously IS what is good. Therefore, what can be more beautiful than holiness? And since God is the perfection of holiness, He also is the perfection of beauty.
(Whew! That was a lot of reasoning! Thanks for following along! : )
We know, and are thankful, that He did not leave Himself as the only beautiful thing... because He is invisible. If He was the only beautiful thing, and we could not see Him, there would be nothing beautiful to see. He graced creation with many hints and visible reflections of His beautiful character. Romans 1 tells us that the characteristics of God that we cannot see - His beauty, for instance, - are clearly seen through the things he has made. This makes perfect sense, and is a great point to bring up to those who believe in a world apart from God. In an evolutionary worldview, there is no reason for beauty at all. Even IF the trillions of things that need to happen in order for life to exist could have randomly evolved by chance at the right time and in the right way, there is no reason for it to produce anything beautiful. Beauty requires extra energy and intelligence, making the theory of random chance even less believable than it ever was. This also explains why we have such horrors as modern art. When one's worldview is that the earth is a mess resulted from chaos, inspired by nothing, then there is no reason or framework for beauty, order, or harmony.
How much of a reason do we, however, as Christians, have to embrace, observe, rejoice in, and practice beauty in our physical and spiritual lives when we remember that beautiful One whom we serve and his love of beautiful things! (Holiness in particular.)
The Purpose Of Beauty
Beauty is like a neon billboard saying "God." Although evolutionists have tried to explain beauty by suggesting that it helps in the reproduction process, we all know it is not necessary, and Charles Darwin even said,
"The sight of a feather in a peacock's tail, whenever I gaze at it, makes me sick!"
~ Charles Darwin ~
Beauty exists! We cannot deny it because it is nearly ubiquitous. The happy face of the daisy in the roadside ditch and the striking iridescent feathers of the bluejay outside the window admonish us that our Creator made His creation, including us, to reflect His beauty.
Beauty in creation points to Someone more lovely than we could ever conceive. It teaches us that there is One who can help us when we realize our brokenness and sinfulness, because He is infinite in wisdom, care, and knowledge. Any lily will show you that. My friends, do not underestimate the power of beauty.
The morning light, the lily white declare their Maker's praise. This is my Father's world, He shines in all that's fair... ~ Maltbie Babcock
Spiritual Beauty
Psalm 149:4 is a literally marvelous verse.
"... He will beautify the humble with salvation."
The grace of salvation is a thing of striking beauty. At first, it was ugly and bloody, but at the end it is glorious and all harmonious. When the Lord saves a sinner from death, and turns Him from the error of His ways, He begins a work of beauty in him.
When Jesus created bold access to the Holy of Holies through the veil, that is, His flesh, (Hebrews 10:19-25) men were able to draw near to God and receive help moment by moment when they experienced temptations to sin against Him, as it says in Hebrews 4:14 -
Let us therefore {because we have access to His throne room through Jesus' blood} COME, boldly, to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
~ Hebrews 4:16. ~
Once raised to life from death in trespasses and sins, the Lord begins a work of conforming said raised person to His holy self. Imitating God as dear children, they start to manifest the beauty of holiness in their own lives. Spiritually, it is a pleasant and beautiful thing for the Lord to behold in someone's life. He treasures this kind of beauty.
"... the incorruptible beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is very precious in the sight of God."
~ 1 Peter 3:4 ~
(By the way, the Greek Word for "quiet" denotes contentment.)
Interestingly enough, this spiritual beauty also directly affects physical beauty as well.
"The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes."
~ Psalm 19:8 ~
When someone keeps the commandments of the Lord their conscience is cleared and their eyes shine with light. I have seen it before. (Matthew 6:22)
"A man's wisdom makes his face shine, and the sternness of his face is changed."
~ Ecclesiastes 8:1. ~
Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, when He dwells in someone, radiates through them. One of the fruits of the Spirit is joy, and it is a beautiful thing.
I do not mean to communicate that beauty is intrinsically holy. Flowers are not intrinsically holy, and certainly most beautiful people are not holy either. However, beauty is designed to reflect holiness. Or, perhaps I should say, holiness always directly or indirectly affects beauty. Everything holy is beautiful, and holy beings naturally radiate beauty and create things of beauty.
What about beautiful people who aren't holy? Are they better than others because they're more beautiful? Or what about unholy people who create beautiful art? Is it because of some holiness inside of them? The answer is no. They are only borrowing the result of holiness from God, and lack the root. Because of that, the only beauty they can have is physical. Whenever you find beauty, there is holiness behind it, but often it is just God's original holiness when He created the world, left over and remaining in small reflections through the beauty of His creation. It points TO His holiness, but is not holy itself. It is only one side of the coin. God offers us holiness in the form of Jesus Christ though, and if we trust in his death and righteousness alone to cover our own unholiness, He can begin a new work in us - a beautiful co-working between God and ourselves where we grow ever more beautiful to Him and produce spiritual and consequently physical beauty for His glory.
Spiritual beauty is supremely important, and something we tend to neglect to emphasize. Holiness doesn't seem to glisten or sparkle in our eyes as much as it should. Holiness is beautiful, because God is intrinsically holy and the source of all holiness, and He is utterly beautiful. Because men cannot lay their eyes on the splendor of the Lord in this life, they need hints and reflections (though very dim) to display His goodness in a way they can behold and inspect. Jonathan Edwards describes it like this: We are a tapestry of misty droplets in the sky, which, when the Son of glory shines upon, become a beautiful rainbow, a reflection of His beauty for all to see, though He is invisible and we are nothing to behold in and of our own selves.
Although spiritual beauty is supreme, I believe physical and spiritual beauty are correlated. This is hard to see, because our views of physical beauty are easily twisted by our twisted world. There are two main wrong views about beauty:
Wrong Belief #1: That beauty is our own, for us.
Beauty is not just a bonus feature made for our enjoyment. It very directly has a role in glorifying God. Regardless of the degree of physical beauty with which we have been blessed, we should understand that it is not our own, or given to us to use for our own agendas or ego advancement. It is solely a gift we are responsible for stewarding well to bring glory to God.
Wrong Belief #2: That beauty is intrinsically self-glorifying.
It is easy to think so, since most role models of beauty do seem to have the sinful attitude above, but beauty was designed to bring glory to God, and is always found in the process of worship. Because of our humanistic natures which are infatuated with ourselves, however, we tend to twist every good gift from the Lord and make it point inward instead of outward. However, if we say that because most people abuse beauty and use it incorrectly beauty is therefore bad, we are definitely throwing out the baby with the bath water. All the more reason for Christians who are passionate about God's glory to reclaim beauty for the purpose it was intended for - the glorification of God! At the least, I do not believe that holiness and intentional suppressing of physical beauty are correlated. It almost seems to be a self-denying cycle.
That said, Proverbs 31:30 says that beauty is 'vain' in KJV and 'passing' in NKJV. The Hebrew word for 'vain, (hebel) does not mean "pride" or "self-seeking," as I had assumed, but "vapour," and "breath." The point is that physical beauty is not lasting or eternal, but quickly gone. Instead of focusing on something that will be gone very soon, we should pour ourselves toward and be diligent to find, the fear of the Lord. That is the supreme treasure, the most beautiful thing, the eternal and everlasting reward of the righteous woman - not her physical beauty! (Proverbs 31:30.)
Charm is deceitful, and beauty is passing, but a woman who fears the Lord, she shall be praised.
~ Proverbs 31:30
I believe this was Peter's point when he penned the caution in 1 Peter 3:3-5,
Do not let your adornment be merely outward—arranging the hair, wearing gold, or putting on fine apparel— rather let it be the hidden person of the heart, with the incorruptible beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is very precious in the sight of God. For in this manner, in former times, the holy women who trusted in God also adorned themselves...
For a while, I had a difficult time - every time I dressed up, I would feel very self-conscious, asking myself over and over, "Will people thing I'm vain?" I finally came to the realization that it was vain, in a way, to even ask questions like that - the question is not "Will people think --------?" but rather, "Is my physical adornment a harmonious reflection of His beautiful holiness? Will God be pleased with how I am reflecting His character to the world with this apparel?" Because I WAS vain and self-focused, and frankly had an improper emphasis on emphasizing myself, I was afraid of man's opinions of my motives (as I said, likely because they weren't pure in the first place!) But when I understood that beauty is all for the Lord, it took the "me" out of it, so now, hopefully, He shines forth more beautifully in holiness.
The Beauty Programmed Into Femininity
Recently, all the girls in our family had a tea party. I was reluctant to join at first because I thought my plate was too full of things to do, but I'm so glad I did. Mama asked us, "What is the best part about being a girl for you?" There were many things I could have said - and started to say - but what I landed on was this: the beauty He has programmed into womanhood. Someone once told me, "It's obvious that God made womankind beautiful. Just look around - it can't be denied!" Beauty was bestowed upon womankind, not mankind. I'm definitely not saying men can't look good - they definitely can and do, in their own way, a masculine kind of harmony which we call handsomeness. However, the gift of beauty as the essence of feminine nature is uniquely bestowed upon women.
This is why, I think, little children always seem to naturally pick their mommas flowers. There is something that tells the child, "this is beautiful like my momma." Put a child in a field of wild flowers, and he'll be giving them to his mother, not his daddy. Men and women reflect His beauty in different ways.
In Genesis 1:27, we find that we are physically made in the image of God - Imago Dei.
So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.
~ Genesis 1:27 ~
In Ephesians 5:1 we are admonished to spiritually imitate God as dear children.
Therefore be imitators of God as dear children.
~ Ephesians 5:1 ~
If God is physically and spiritually beautiful, then we should be, as well, and prioritize beauty in our lives, much more.
"Wait..." I hear you saying. "I wasn't born physically beautiful, and that's not something I can change." I would have a hard time believing that. I believe God has gifted beauty to everyone - perhaps not our idea of it - and it is our job to steward it, though we don't often do a very good job. Any woman becomes more beautiful when her face is attached to a joyful, content spirit that fears the Lord. It makes the eyes sparkle and the face radiate. There have been people I have met who I didn't remember what they looked like, though I was left with a vivid impression of how their face radiated with life, joy, or contentment, and it was beautiful. Also, physical beauty is something anyone can do a better job at stewarding. Perhaps instead of complaining about your lack of it, start taking responsibility of stewarding what He has given you.
How we appear physically and spiritually reflects what we believe about God. (Genesis 1:26-27, Ephesians 5:1.) If we believe that He is beautiful, we will seek to have His beauty reflected in all areas of our life.
Are you a woman? How seriously do you take that? It is easy to be apathetic towards our womanhood, but God created everyone individually and specifically gave to each their gender for an intentional purpose. If you are a woman, it is because God specifically wanted you to be one. Not only that, He also wants you to be satisfied in it and bring Him glory with that gift. Have you viewed your womanhood as a direct gift from His loving hand which He greatly desires you to be satisfied with and delight in? Have you embraced it with thankfulness, or are you trying to ignore this fact?
These thoughts from Scott Brown's book, "Feminine By Design" are worth reading and pondering:
"As a woman, your gender is one of the beautiful expressions of the wisdom of God. It is the glory of God to array creation with diversity of form and function. He has crafted you with distinguishing qualities across a wide spectrum of physical and emotional attributes. These qualities exert a remarkable beauty and power in the world... God has wisely designed your womanhood to define your roles in this life. So rejoice, daughter of Zion, and be content in your femininity! When you think, act, and dress in a distinctly feminine way, you will be declaring the glory of God. It is God who has made you distinctly feminine, and your whole life {will} revolve around a uniquely feminine expression of the glory of God. So as you walk through life, be aware of how important it is to bring glory to God through your peace and satisfaction for what God has ordained."
~~~~~~
As Christian women, we already know how important it is to be satisfied, content, and thankful for whatever God ordains. Perhaps we have even thanked Him before for making us a woman. One of the great distinctions between masculinity and femininity is feminine beauty. Why then are we, Christian women, ashamed to embrace it? God definitely intended for us to display His beauty for HIS glory.
There is sometimes an idea that women ought to try to not look beautiful so as to not eclipse God's beauty in us - holiness. It is a noble thing to want to sacrifice something in order for God's glory to shine brighter. I would agree so far as it actually does make God's glory shine brighter, but I strongly believe that it does not, and rather dulls it. Vanity in a woman is not beautiful. But neither is homely dressing. And if beauty is a channel for God's praise, then decreasing beauty can decrease God's glory. There is nothing I can see about plain dressing that would inspire in a one praise toward the Lord. In fact, I believe it sends a message to the world that the gospel is not a thing of beauty.
"Christianity is itself full of grace...
Why then, should piety and
inelegance be associated?
Or why should an absence of the graceful
characterize the religious so often?
Women of piety should not give
occasion to such a reproach.
They are not more devout because
they are ungraceful,
nor more heavenly minded
because they are deficient in taste.
On the contrary, they imbibe more deeply the spirit of their lovely
religion when they carry its charm
into the detail of life, when they are fascinating
as well as faithful,
and agreeable as well as good."
~ Author Unknown.
(From Young Lady's Own Book, published in the 1800s.)
If you are a girl, perhaps embracing God's gift of feminine beauty is out of your comfort zone - maybe you have had no role models in your family to follow in the footsteps of and are afraid of what people will think if you start dressing in a distinctly feminine and beautiful way. May I encourage you to intentionally set aside what other people think, and seek God's glory alone? I believe that the Lord loves it when his daughters embrace what He lovingly designed for them, by dressing distinctly femininely. (Psalm 45:13-14, Proverbs 31:22, Revelation 19:8, etc. ) God never does anything on accident, and we can be sure that He didn't give us the gift of femininity just to put on a shelf - or worse, to rough down and make dull on purpose.
Having said these things, I have necessitated a caution from myself. The majority of women's tendencies, because of our fallen prideful natures, is to flaunt our beauty for our own selfish desires. Therefore we often hear godly counsel to not focus on outward beauty. This is so true and necessary, but because it is stressed so much, and because the positive aspect of beauty is so often neglected, I think many of us are very confused... if it's 'sinful to adorn ourselves in a beautiful manner,' and there seems to be no reason why God created us beautiful, then what is it there for?!?! This generation desperately needs guidance. Beauty needs to be balanced. At first glance, it may seem mentally exhausting to use our God-given beauty in a biblical manner without doing it for selfish reasons, but the answer is pretty simple for the believing woman - let the beauty He has given you shine for HIS glory.
"...What do you have that you did not receive? Now if you did indeed receive it, why do you boast as if you had not received it?"
~ 1 Corinthians 4:7b ~
How to do it for the glory of God you ask? Firstly, we adorn ourselves with the gospel, the fruits of the Spirit, and contentment in His design. Then, we dress accordingly, trying to draw attention to His wisdom, beauty, and holiness in how we think, act, and dress. We recognize the Giver of this good gift, and recognize that we had nothing to do with it except tend and keep it, as He commanded. We can always ask Him for wisdom, for He stores it up for the upright for the asking! (Proverbs 2:7, James 1:5.)
Be clothed with humility, for God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble.
~ 1 Peter 5:5 ~
~ To The Utmost Glory Of God ~
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