God's Definition of Beauty

Here is an excerpt from an excellent article written by Carolyn Mahaney.

We are exhorted in Romans 12:2 not to allow the world around us to squeeze us into its mold. We need to ask ourselves if we have been captivated by our culture's definition of beauty ... or God's. Do our thoughts and actions regarding our appearance reflect a cultural standard, or a biblical standard? To answer these questions honestly, we need to understand God's perspective on beauty.

Scripture reveals the falsehood and futility of the quest for physical beauty. "Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting" (Pro 31:30). Charm in the Hebrew means "bodily form." Form and beauty are two things that our culture esteems and pursues with fervor, yet God exposes our pursuit of the perfect figure and beauty to be idolatrous.

A survey of physically beautiful women in the Bible supports the admonitions of Proverbs. Physical beauty in Scripture is more often linked with trouble and temptation than with blessing and goodness. Many Old Testament stories of lying, cheating, stealing, murder, adultery, and idol-worship find their roots in sinful responses to female physical beauty (E.g., the accounts of Sarah in Gen 12:11-20, Rebekah in Gen 26:7-11, and Tamar in 2Sa 13:1-20).

Nowhere in the Bible are women instructed to wish, ask, or strive for physical beauty. Instead, God's Word warns us of the futility and deceitfulness of such a pursuit. Neither does the Bible portray physical beauty as a blessing for those who have it. Instead, it can create greater potential for being snared by sin (Pro 6:23-26).

However, there is a kind of beauty that we are to pursue. First Peter 3:4-5 tells us that a woman's beauty 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. For this is the way the holy women of the past who put their hope in God used to make themselves beautiful.