What God Says Is Beautiful

by Carolyn McCulley

Do not let your adorning be external–the braiding of hair, the wearing of gold, or the putting on of clothing–but let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God’s sight is very precious.–1 Peter 3:3-4

Ladies, here is a Christmas present to you. These are further reflections from Dan Wold at The Roof Guys about this topic of physical beauty versus inner beauty. All I could say was a quiet "amen" when I read what he wrote. I’m sure you will be as moved as I was. Well done, Dan! May the Lord give you much favor as you influence other men through your blog. Here’s an excerpt from what he wrote:

Guys, we live in a world that does not agree with God on what is precious and beautiful. What is precious in the world’s sight is the outward cup! But that outward cup is going to perish with this world! Our eternal father has told us to value imperishable beauty.

Christian women hear this message a lot. They are exhorted in the church to this end. Today, I am concerned about us guys. Please listen and hear me out on this.

We have a responsibility to have our minds conformed to the mind of God. If God tells us that something is actually beautiful, then it is actually beautiful. God doesn’t care about your subjective opinion of what is precious. He cares that you value what He values.

We as men must value true feminine beauty. We must! This is one of the greatest ways we can serve our sisters in Christ! In the Church, today, single women are asking this question, "I know what scripture says about beauty. However, what I see single men value is quite different." How sad is this! God is looking down from heaven and seeing imperishable beauty in the church today, and it delights Him! He sees the joyful mother at home with the sick children, and He behold beauty. He sees the single women in the soup kitchen, and He beholds beauty. He sees an elderly women at the end of her life teaching and instructing younger wives to love their husbands, and He sees true beauty.

God is not blind to their outward appearance, He is consumed with imperishable beauty. Men, we have the temptation to be consumed with the outward appearance and blind to imperishable beauty! This is an affront against God. It causes discouragement and tempts Godly women to despair.

The body of Christ is a place where women need to feel truly precious because they are ransomed by the blood of Christ, and because they have laid down the world’s value system and are serving their Savior and loving their church with a gentle and quiet spirit.

We ought to be quick to notice this. Men, we need to have heavenly vision. Women in the church ought to turn our heads when they are obeying God. They ought to win our honor, gratitude and respect when they are following Peter’s admonition.