I have heard it said a million times that "beauty is only skin deep" and I know this cliche has good intentions. However, I completely disagree. The truth of the matter is that beauty is soul deep. True, these days the definition of beauty has been distorted from it's intended meaning. In our current culture beauty is defined by your waist size, cup size and complexion, but I refuse to believe that this is what was intended when God made Eve.
I read a book recently, called Beauty Full by Pastor Ed Young Jr and Mac Richard. I am one of those women that has struggled with not feeling beautiful all my life. My weight goes up and down, I have crooked teeth, big feet and my shape isn't exactly the portrait of perfection. Over the years I have been attacked by images of petite little size 00 girls that to me look gorgeous. I have gone to unhealthy, great lengths to try to look like them and my obsession landed me with an eating disorder and the same body. Even after I became a Christian the struggle didn't stop. I constantly strived to be beautiful by societys standards and was always left feeling like a failure.
"One recent study showed that women stress and anguish over their body image or their physical appearance throughout any given day almost as frequently as men think about sex."
Now that I am 24 years old and married with 2 beautiful children, I am just starting to understand who I am in Christ. I know that I am beautiful, maybe not in the way that a magazine editor or movie director would want, but for me it goes so much deepeer than that. I know that God created me in His image, I am just the way he wants me. When the bible says "So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them." (Genesis 1:27) he doesn't necessairly mean that we look exactly like God and he certainly doesn't mean we all look the same. From this passage we see that men and women embody certain characteristics of the nature of God. Take Adam for instance, he embodies the strength of God, he is a man's man, rough and rugged and there to protect and provide for his bride, just like God does for us. Then there is Eve, she is beautiful, really beautiful. Creation was made complete with Eve, she is even referred to as the crown of creation, Eve embodies the beauty and tenderness of God himself.
"The illumination of this gift produces true womens liberation; it releases you and strengthens you to be the woman God created you to be; independant of the world's expectations; independant of the lies that people have spoken into your life; and independant of your own dowbts and insecurities."
Of course Satan has found a way to pervert and distort this wonderful thing that God has blessed us with. It all stems from the fall in the garden. Satan struck up a conversation with Eve and convinced her to disobey the one rule that God had given them. He placed a seed of doubt in her head and the world hasn't been the same since. Of course Adam isn't blame free on this one either. Adam was standing right beside Eve when she ate the fruit, he didn't try to stop her and in doing this he denied who he was as a man made in the image of God. This kind of deception is only a foreshadowing of the future, of the world we live in today. Unspeakable acts of violence towards women tell the story of the special hatred that Satan has for women. Satan hates men, but he carries an especially strong contempt for the crown of creation.
As I said it has taken me many years to finally realize that knowing who I am in Christ and allowing myself to be free in my faiith is when my beauty can come through. It is when we buy into the lies of Satan and hide our true beauty that we cease to be as beautiful as God intended. "Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as braided hair and the wearing of gold jewelry and fine clothes. Instead, it 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." (1 Peter 3:3-4) When I read this passage I thought it was all over, a gentle and quiet spirit, yeah right. I am outgoing and loud, I thought I could never live up to this. As I read that book, Beauty Full, I learned that the gentle quiet spirit refert to contentment. I am not driving myself crazy to squeeze into the skinny jeans or obsessing over my hair, I am content with wo I am in Christ.
"This passage of Scripture is talking about that quality of a woman's spirit, of her soul, that is gentle and quiet because she is content, because she is a t peace, because she isn't hiding her beauty and she isn't striving for control, She is content and at peace with who God has made her and the rols she plays"
This distorted view of self, especially among women, is an epidemic that is killing them. Their souls are dying because of the fear of not being enough, not being loveable and just not being beautiful and their bodies are dying because of the great lengths they go to so they can be what our culture calls "beautiful". My preyer is that we would be able to see the lies that Satan feeds us as exactly what they are and look to God to find who we are...and to find our true beauty.
"Something beautiful, something good
All my confusion, he understood
All I had to offer him
Was brokenness and strife
But he made somethine geautiful of my life."
