Beauty Is A Beast 

By Justin Bedingfield

It’s not a typo. I mean “beast” in the way the cool kids do.

My wife and I had a conversation a few years ago about beauty. It was awesome. At the time, we had 12 years of marriage and nearly 15 years of ministering to young adult women and teenage girls to glean from. This struggle is real and pervasive. Here’s where we landed.

Beauty is a beast to figure out.

True beauty is hard to pursue and discern. It’s a difficult undertaking for anyone. Whether it’s my 9 year old, a teenage girl, young mom or grandmother. Beauty is something that, if not viewed through the lens of the gospel, can be lost in a world of pencil-thin models, photoshop, Instagram filters and caked-on makeup. The world is loud and bold about their version of beauty. It’s also wrong and dangerous.

Our value, worth and beauty are based not on pre-determined, worldly criteria. A new identity as sons and daughters of the King makes us heavenly royalty. Which is to be desired far more than maintaining attractive facades on these fading, temporary vessels. Our earthy bodies are fallen and tattered by sin. It is a “forever beauty” that women truly need. A beauty that is primary, based on what God says as opposed to an outward, secondary beauty based on what others say. Us guys should heed this word as well. Do we champion God’s beauty to our sisters? Are we helping them or hurting them by the way we view and treat them? Are we leading them to view themselves as God does?

Charm is deceitful and beauty is vain, but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised. – Proverbs 31:30

Even before I knew Christ, while God continued to testify Himself to me as a teen, I began to see the emptiness of worldly beauty in the opposite sex. I began to notice those young women who knew and loved Christ had something deeper that actually spoke something about their Savior. And it spoke to me. It’s what I saw in my future wife as I began to get involved at a local church. I’m blessed to have her. She embodies scriptural beauty. The luster of her eyes reveals a window showing her satisfaction in Christ. Her smile gleams a joy found in the finished work of Christ. I love her. A lot.

Beauty in Godly women is a testimony of their blood-bought identity. Their outward beauty is made complete by their inward beauty. There is something beautiful about a woman who seeks the Lord; finding her acceptance and true beauty in her new identity in Him. What good is the outward if the inward is out of order?

Peter mentions in 1 Peter 3 that the beauty God finds precious is imperishable. This is “forever beauty”. God’s Beauty. I’m praying my sister’s pursue it. And I’m praying that I and my brothers can see them as God does – as loved, accepted, and full of “forever beauty”.