BEAUTY
Definition: Those qualities that delight or give pleasure to the eye, ear, mind or heart; loveliness; elegance; a particular grace or charm.
1. Real beauty is on the inside.
1 Samuel 16:7b For the Lord seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart.
Psalm 45:13a The king’s daughter is all glorious within.
Isaiah 28:5 [True beauty, the beauty that God bestows upon His children by His Spirit, is eternal] In that day shall the Lord of hosts be for a crown of glory, and for a diadem [crown] of beauty, unto the residue of His people.
1 Peter 3:3,4 [The key to true beauty:] Whose adorning let it not be that outward adorning of plaiting the hair, and of wearing of gold, or of putting on of apparel; 4 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.
2. “Eyes are the windows of the soul,” it has been said, and it is through your eyes that the beauty of your spirit, the real you, shines through.
Matthew 6:22 The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light. [See also Luke 11:36]
Matthew 5:14-16 [Our eyes should radiate happiness and the joy of the Lord] Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid. 15 Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. 16 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in Heaven.
Proverbs 15:13a [The joy of the Lord is the best “makeup,”] A merry heart maketh a cheerful countenance.
3. Spiritual beauty, or beauty of character, is far better to seek after than mere physical beauty.
Psalm 149:4 For the Lord taketh pleasure in His people: He will beautify the meek with Salvation.
Proverbs 31:30 Favour is deceitful, and beauty is vain: but a woman that feareth the Lord, she shall be praised.
Proverbs 11:16a A gracious woman retaineth honour.
Proverbs 11:22 [Beauty without godly behaviour couldn’t be any less appealing] As a jewel of gold in a swine’s snout, so is a fair woman which is without discretion.
Isaiah 53:2a He hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see Him, there is no beauty that we should desire Him.
Isaiah 61:3,10 [God is the giver of true beauty] To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that He might be glorified… 10 I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for He hath clothed me with the garments of Salvation, He hath covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorneth herself with her jewels.
4. The closer we live to the Lord, our outward appearance will also be transformed and become more beautiful.
Exodus 34:29 [When Moses went up on the mountain to see the Lord, he returned even visibly changed so that the people were amazed] And it came to pass, when Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the two tables of testimony in Moses’ hand, when he came down from the mount, that Moses wist not that the skin of his face shone while He talked with him.
Job 29:14 I put on righteousness, and it clothed me: my judgment was as a robe and a diadem [crown].
Psalm 96:6,9 Honour and majesty are before Him: strength and beauty are in His sanctuary.… 9 O worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness: fear before Him, all the earth.
Proverbs 1:9 For they [instruction and teaching] shall be an ornament of grace unto thy head, and chains about thy neck.
Proverbs 4:9 She [wisdom] shall give to thine head an ornament of grace: a crown of glory shall she deliver to thee.
Ecclesiastes 8:1b A man’s wisdom maketh his face to shine, and the boldness of his face shall be changed.
Isaiah 52:7 [Our beauty is enhanced whenever we share God’s love with others] How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace; that bringeth good tidings of good, that publisheth Salvation; that saith unto Zion, Thy God reigneth! [See also Daniel 12:3]
Acts 6:15 [Stephen, one of the first martyrs of the Early Church, was transformed by the Lord as he witnessed] And all that sat in the council, looking stedfastly on him, saw his face as it had been the face of an angel.
2 Corinthians 3:18 But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.
5. Physical beauty is temporal.
Jeremiah 4:30b In vain shalt thou make thyself fair.
Job 15:31 Let not him that is deceived trust in vanity: for vanity shall be his recompence.
Psalm 39:11 When Thou with rebukes dost correct man for iniquity, Thou makest his beauty to consume away like a moth: surely every man is vanity.
Psalm 49:14 [Death and God’s judgments take away the “beauty” of the wicked] Like sheep they are laid in the grave; death shall feed on them; and the upright shall have dominion over them in the morning; and their beauty shall consume in the grave from their dwelling.
1 John 2:15-17 Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. 17 And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.
6. Physical beauty can be misused to lead others astray.
2 Samuel 14:25; 16:5,6 [David’s son, Absalom, used his charm to steal the loyalty of David’s people from him, as he intended to overthrow his father’s government] But in all Israel there was none to be so much praised as Absalom for his beauty: from the sole of his foot even to the crown of his head there was no blemish in him.… 15:5 And it was so, that when any man came nigh to him to do him obeisance, he put forth his hand, and took him, and kissed him. 6 And on this manner did Absalom to all Israel that came to the king for judgment: so Absalom stole the hearts of the men of Israel.
Proverbs 6:23-25 For the commandment is a lamp; and the law is light; and reproofs of instruction are the way of life: 24 To keep thee from the evil woman, from the flattery of the tongue of a strange woman. 25 Lust not after her beauty in thine heart; neither let her take thee with her eyelids.
Proverbs 7:10,12-14 And, behold, there met him a woman with the attire of an harlot, and subtil of heart.… 12 Now is she without, now in the streets, and lieth in wait at every corner.) 13 So she caught him, and kissed him, and with an impudent face said unto him, 14 I have peace offerings with me; this day have I payed my vows.
Ezekiel 16:15 But thou didst trust in thine own beauty, and playedst the harlot because of thy renown, and pouredst out thy fornications on every one that passed by; his it was. [See also Isaiah 3:16]
Revelation 17:1b-5,18; chapter 18 [God’s greatest Endtime wrath is poured out on Babylon, the whorish, deceitful, world materialistic System, that deceived the nations with her fleshly beauty and materialism] Come hither; I will shew unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters: 2 With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication. 3 So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman.… 4 And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication.… 18 And the woman which thou sawest is that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth… 18:3 For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies.… 7 How much she hath glorified herself, and lived deliciously, so much torment and sorrow give her: for she saith in her heart, I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow.
7. Lord help us to reflect His beauty.
Psalm 42:11 [God paints true beauty on our faces] Why art thou cast down, O my soul? And why art thou disquieted within me? Hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise Him, Who is the health of my countenance, and my God.
Psalm 90:17a And let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us. [See also 27:4; 50:2]
Isaiah 61:10 I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for He hath clothed me with the garments of Salvation, He hath covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorneth herself with her jewels.
Ezekiel 16:14 And thy renown went forth among the heathen for thy beauty: for it was perfect through My comeliness, which I had put upon thee, saith the Lord God.
Zechariah 9:17a For how great is His goodness, and how great is His beauty! [See also Psalm 50:2; Isaiah 33:17]
Ephesians 5:27 That He [God] might present it to Himself a glorious Church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish
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