What do you see when you look in the mirror? Do you see lines, wrinkles, blemishes and imperfections? Do you focus on a feature that you don’t like- maybe your nose or chin or your eyes? Do you believe you are beautiful? Well, you are.

The standards of beauty that this world uses are subjective and ever-changing. What they considered beautiful 100 years ago is different than today. And they are based only on outward appearance. God’s standard of beauty is the only one that means anything, and His is based on the inward man.

It is not fancy hair, gold jewelry, or fine clothes that should make you beautiful.  No, your beauty should come from inside you—the beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit. That beauty will never disappear. It is worth very much to God. I Peter 3:3-4 (Easy to Read Version, ERV)

Physical beauty fades, but inward beauty does not. Long after the shine is gone from the beauty queen’s tiara and the trophies of body-building men have tarnished, the allure of inward beauty goes on. We are not measured by how we compare to the latest magazine covers, instead our value comes from Jesus. The beauty radiating from a child of God who is devoted to the King is unmistakable and always trumps the outward trappings of beauty. A heart of pure love is amazingly attactive and draws everyone to it.

Charm and grace are deceptive, and beauty is vain [because it is not lasting], but a woman who reverently and worshipfully fears the Lord, she shall be praised! Proverbs 31:30 (Amplified Bible Classic Edition, AMPC)

This goes for men as well as women. People see the outward, but God looks on the heart.

It is perfectly fine if we enjoy dressing up and looking nice. We just don’t need to get our worth and value from our outward appearance. On the other hand, we don’t need to feel badly about ourselves if we don’t look like the photoshopped models we see on television.

God made each of us unique and individual- with a combination of traits that no one else has. We need to embrace who God has made us and we need to focus on our relationship with Him instead of the image in the mirror. When we spend time with Him, we glow with the glory of God, and no natural “beauty” can compare.