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Beauty tips from the inside out


There is a proverb that talks about beauty in a “wise” sort of way:

Proverbs 11
Be sure of this: The wicked will not go unpunished,
but those who are righteous will go free.
Like a gold ring in a pig’s snout
is a beautiful woman who shows no discretion.

 
I don’t know about you, but that cracks me up!  Beauty is such a hot commodity nowadays.  Its all about how we look, isn’t it?  Are you looking for beautiful?  I’m not talking about the kind the world wants – where they remove and add on, shape up and stretch out – laser this and scrub that.  The end result?  Skin-deep beauty.  The kind of beauty that is fake, not real, made-up.

Being beautiful has always been quite popular, don’t you think?  However, I’m talking about from the inside out – that kind of beautiful.  The kind of beautiful that is heart-felt.  A beauty that shows truth, honor and faithfulness.  A person who has compassion, love and forgiveness written all over them.  No amount of scrubbing will bring that on . . . . just sayin. 

Isaiah 52 says:
How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation, who say to Zion, “Your God reigns!”

Or 1 Peter:
Instead, 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. For this is the way the holy women of the past who put their hope in God used to make themselves beautiful.

Now there’s some beauty tips!  Lets’ see, proclaim peace – bring good tidings - proclaim salvation and Who God is.  Being gentle with a quiet spirit and putting all hope in God.  I wonder if this is attainable – this kind of beautiful? 

Let’s practice and find out !  Why don’t we start with cleansing – confession – and get our heart cleaned out first.  Once cleansed, that will bring us to the next step – thanksgiving.  Being thankful for who we are, just the way He made us.  Thanking Him for WHO He is and all we have and all He has for us.  Our next step would be praying.  Praising our Creator and Redeemer.  Praying for a heart full of what God wants – peace, love, joy, hope, gentleness, etc.    – petitioning Him for His will in our lives, standing firm on the foundation He has set us on. 

That foundation is the Word of God – the Bible.  Hearing it, reading it, knowing it, inwardly digesting it.  Not just in the brain, but in the heart too.  And loving it, yes loving the Word of God – loving it so much you live it. 

Sounds beautiful doesn’t it?   There is one other scripture I want to include about beauty.  This one, however, is THE MOST BEAUTIFUL – the One who, although no beauty on the outside, when you look inside, you see . . .

Who has believed our message

and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?

He grew up before Him like a tender shoot,

and like a root out of dry ground.

He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to Him,

nothing in His appearance that we should desire Him.

He was despised and rejected by men,

a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering.

Like one from whom men hide their faces

He was despised, and we esteemed Him not.

 

Surely He took up our infirmities

and carried our sorrows,

yet we considered Him stricken by God,

smitten by Him, and afflicted.

 But He was pierced for our transgressions,

He was crushed for our iniquities;

the punishment that brought us peace was upon Him,

and by His wounds we are healed.

Isaiah 53

 
. . . I don't know - you tell me – its too beautiful to comprehend!

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