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. 1Peter 3:4 (ESV)
So, you also outwardly appear righteous to others, but within you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness. Matthew 23:28 (ESV)
Most of us spend a lot of time with our outward looks and beauty. We go to the gym or other places in order to work out and hopefully achieve the beautiful bodies we are working towards. I want to stress a point here, working out and being in the best shape is not a bad thing. However, it can be problematic if we make it an obsession.
In addition, we spend a lot of time and money on clothes-shopping and getting the right outfits to accent our body shape. We spend time and money on hair, make-up, and other various skin and beauty/body treatments.
Again, when having all of these things done, in moderation, can be extremely important and can play a vital role in our mental and emotional health.
However, have you ever stopped to think about the amount of time and money, spent on working on our outward appearance? In contrast, have you ever considered how much time, if any, is spent on developing our inward beauty? Inward beauty in the form of spiritual health and wellness? What would happen, if we decided to put the same amount of time, money, and effort, into developing our inward characteristics of humility, honesty, and integrity? Focusing on improving the inner self, we would not have hypocrisy and lawlessness, as is referenced in Matthew 23:28.
Spending time developing your inward beauty is just as important, if not even more so, than working on the outward. If we all sought to apply concerted effort in being a better person internally, this world would be a very different place. If we took the time to really work on getting closer to God and work on aligning our principles with His, this world would have less strife, chaos, and destruction.
So, as you go about living your life, look to incorporate a diligent effort in strengthening your inner beauty in the form of Godly characteristics. Look to become a more patient, loving, humble, and kind person, wherever you go and in all circumstances. It will not always be easy. Life’s struggles and various people will push your limits, from time to time. But if we make a concerted effort to work on strengthening and improving our inner beauty, as much as we do our outward appearance, what a beautiful change would occur in our lives, as well as the lives around us.
Blessings,
Angélique
To contact: Angelique@21stcenturygodlyliving.com
Comments