what is beauty?
As I sat in the high hills of Cashiers, North Carolina, I marveled at the mountains, flowers, and small-town feel it gave off. To me, it was beautiful. I dove deeper, though, into the underlying definition of beauty and what made the views of Cashiers so beautiful. It was creation, it was God’s design. I believe beauty is an attribute of God that He allows His creation, His image bears, to show off. Beauty isn’t solely the outward appearance; it's within, from the Creator, who made us all. Our hearts are beautiful and our joy from the Lord is beautiful. As I marveled at creation, I was reminded of how beautiful the Creator is.
On my thirteenth birthday, I was gifted the most valuable thing I own today, the Word of God. I had picked out this Bible online and my eyes locked on the beautiful cover it wore. When I got it, I couldn’t stop taking pictures of it. I loved the outside, yet I hadn’t even dived into the inside. As time went on, now being 16, the cover of my beautiful Bible doesn’t quite look the same. It is a bit rugged, you could say bruised, and the binding is holding on for dear life! But as I watch the outside wither away, I can’t help but remember how the inside stays the same. It wasn’t the outside that held the beauty, but the words I get to study daily, the Word that doesn’t change.
I believe this goes for everything we see on Earth. Every person we meet, every interaction we have. It isn’t the outside of a person or thing that holds the beauty, but the inside. It’s a person's heart, their personality, the way they love, the way they care. It’s the Creator of the birds, the mountains, and the trees. It may be what we cannot see, but it's still there, and it holds much more beauty.
Author, speaker, and ministry founder, Jennie Allen wrote about beauty in her book, Get Out of Your Head. She stated, “Beauty is evidence of a Creator who is loving and profoundly delightful.” As I read this, I was reminded that by God all beauty is defined and from Him, all beauty comes. God is the maker of all things, as stated in the first verse of the Bible, Genesis 1:1, “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” He has designed the sun and the stars, our bodies and personalities. From the beginning of the world, God was making things beautiful and reflecting His goodness. Jeremiah 1:5 reminds us that, before God formed us in the womb He knew us, and before we were born, He set us apart.
Contrary to the idea that beauty is an attribute of God and from God, people may take the stand that, “How could one say that the inward characteristics of a person are beautiful when the first thing we see in a person in their physical appearance?” Studies have proven that one quickly forms an opinion on someone based solely on their appearance. Studies of first impressions have determined that people don't just judge you quickly - they judge you, literally, in the blink of the eye - in a tenth of a second to be exact.
Within a tenth of a second, a judgment is made. Within a tenth of a second, you don’t even get to know a person's name, that is just how quickly one makes an opinion based on appearance. A person with this point of view would take the stand that beauty is appearance, it’s what we see first. Yet, that isn’t true. 1 Peter 3:3-4 says, 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.
As someone who has struggled with appearance, I can confidently say that the people around me cared more about the person I was than the body I had. At the height of my eating disorder, people knew something was wrong with me. Not just because I looked ill, but because my mood was down, I was in a depressive state, and my joy just wasn’t there. And when I got healthy again, they were happy to see me back to my joyful self, not disappointed that I didn’t have a skinny body.
The question “What is beauty?” has endless answers. People from diverse cultures could answer this question with different viewpoints. Yet, in the end, beauty is from God, an attribute of the Almighty, and one that, through our inner and outer selves, we get to reflect. We all reflect beauty. Our bodies are special, intricately designed by the Creator.
Meditate on 1 Samuel 16:7 today: 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.”
Our God doesn’t look at the things people look at, He sees within.
New International Version: Genesis 1:1, Jeremiah 1:5, 1 Samuel 16:7, 1 Peter 3:3-4
