Most people who know me are typically shocked when I have on make up or have my hair fixed up a little more than usual. To be honest, it slightly offended me when I realized how shocked most people are when they see me dressed up. Then I realized they were seeing a completely different side of me. I heard a pastor say once or twice, “It never hurts to put fresh paint on an old barn.” And yes, he was talking about women wearing makeup. Since I became a Christian in 2007 I have always kind of felt like beauty was a passing pleasure. To me it did not seem important.
I listened to a sermon today by Mary Kassian, titled The Feminist Mistake. She told about her website in her sermon so I looked it up. When I got to the website I was immediately pulled into a particular article called Female Beauty Matters. Reading through it as well as thinking through some other things I have heard from my pastor, mentor, and friends from church made me look back and re-evaluate why I do not wear make up often. It caused me to look at the way I dress and the very way I conduct myself. For the most part guys see me as “one of the guys” which, as a girl, is super difficult because it seems to be a losing battle of trying to break that mold.
Men find beauty in women valuable. Women feel valuable when we feel that we look good. Even now as a single woman I feel valued when a guy finds me attractive or thinks I am pretty. It is one of those things that in the grand scheme of things it doesn’t really matter. But I know whoever I marry will want me to look nice. He will want me dress up for him, because looking good for him makes him feel valued. I am willing to spend the time to get dressed and all “dolled up” for him. Guys appreciate that and until recently I did not realize that, silly … I know, it is a pretty simple concept.
Within this very simple concept is a much deeper issue. God made men to admire beauty and women to desire beauty. I honestly think it all stems from God making us to admire and desire His beauty just as much as He made us to want to be beautiful to Him. We are made by Him, for Him. We are for His glory and His pleasure. He has a purpose for each and every one of us. That is sooo exciting! Our beauty may fade but through our prettiest and our ugliest days we get to point to a God far more beautiful than ourselves. There is nothing that can out shine His beauty. He chooses to let His beauty shine through us in the form of physical beauty and with internal beauty.
God has made each one of us exactly the way He wants us. He gave you the freckles on your face, your eye color, skin color, hair color … you name it, He gave it to you. Women tend to get really caught up in our looks. Then again, there are women like me who care very little and then when we do it shocks people. In trying to look attractive for your boyfriend, fiancé, spouse don’t lose sight of who God has made you. Someone jokingly said this to me the other day, “you are the only you there is.” Guess what, that is no lie. He was spot on. Don’t let our culture define you. Let Christ be what defines you. Give everything over to Him, including your beauty. Do not, let me repeat that a little louder DO NOT feel like you have to compare yourself to other women. Women on magazines, guess what… they are airbrushed. Your super hot neighbor that seems to always look great, guess what … she feels the same way you do. God does not intend for us to sit around wishing we looked like someone else or had that girls nose, her eyes, that hair, no! He made you, you. So dress according to what is modestly flattering on you. If it makes you feel more attractive to wear makeup, don’t feel bad about it either. Sheesh, I am pretty much talking to myself right now because that is exactly what I do. When I think about putting makeup on or dressing a little nicer I feel like a poser. Don’t feel like a poser, don’t be like me. Remember that God has made you beautiful and wearing make up is not a bad thing (don’t put so much on that you look like a clown though, that is sad and reminds me of the lady from the Drew Carey show … yeah, don’t be like her either). Let God’s beauty shine through you. When you let God’s beauty shine through, that is when everyone sees you as the prettiest. When you let yourself be beautiful to the King, others see that beauty. They may not realize it at the time but they are in the very presence of royalty. You are a child of the King.
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