Charm is deceptive, and beauty does not last, but a woman who fears the Lord will be greatly praised.
Proverbs 31:30
Our culture values physical beauty.
We pay a hefty price for losing weight. I’ll bet you can name six companies and weight-loss products that promise you’ll lose ten pounds in a week and have a beautiful body in a few months. Just give them your credit card number and boxes of “food” will start showing up at your door. (Store some in your garage in case of disaster because that stuff will last a hundred years.)
We pay for gym memberships. Even if we don’t show up and do the workout, Americans are still shelling out $60 billion a year.
The number of cosmetic procedures keep going up. Americans spent $12 billion on them in 2013, $12.5 billion in 2014. Do you want bigger breasts? $6,500. How about a face-lift? $11,000. Maybe something a little less expensive, like liposuction, a bargain for only $5,900.
We can always cover things up with cosmetics. $8 billion spent each year.
The beauty salon industry cuts and combs in $20 billion a year. Manicures mount up to $768 million a year. Apparently, Americans even like their dogs to look good because we spent $56 billion doing that last year.
You can’t read a newspaper, magazine, watch a TV show, or drive down the street without seeing advertisements on physical beauty.
All that money and all that effort, and the truth is physical beauty doesn’t last. It isn’t something you can count on. It’s not going to get you where you want to go.
It was said of Jesus: “There was nothing beautiful or majestic about his appearance, nothing to attract us to him.”
Perhaps Jesus came that way because He knows us so well, and He wants us to think and look deeper at one another. He wants us to see each human being through His eyes.
A true disciple of Christ fears and follows the Lord. A true disciple loves the Lord wholeheartedly. It is God who enables and teaches each disciple how to love one another the way He loves us. And the person who does that is truly lovely. That person develops an inner beauty that surpasses flesh and shines in a way that beckons others. That kind of beauty and charm never fades.