Where do you get your beauty tips?

I was digging through my makeup bag the other day for some gold eye shadow. I thought to myself, I should make a VLog on makeup application! I hear so many adult women claiming that they don't know what to do with this or that beauty product and that's something I know quite a bit about. Maybe a VLog demo would be helpful? And, upon further consideration, maybe not.
The Lord convicted my vain notions and has been putting my nose in scripture that illustrates real beauty ever since. He's been working up this post in my heart and, I could probably write a book on all I've learned. Maybe I will sometime, but for the sake of today's post, I want to share a little of what I've learned as I've been taking beauty tips from the Bible.

As a woman, I know the depths to which we travel to for the sake of beauty. To be completely honest, I have changed my entire appearance a multitude of times just for the sake of vanity. It's a rare day that I'm happy with my appearance through and through. I just realized, after fussing over many boxes of hair dye in the wrong shade, make-up that didn't blend correctly, fake nails that snapped off, designer jeans, purses, dresses, and shoes that I had to have, workout programs that I gave up on and miracle diets blown, true beauty doesn't come from any of those places! Now, before anyone gets bent out of shape over this, I want to tell you that I don't see that any of these things done in balance are wrong; when primping our outer image to perfection takes away from the time we spend adorning our heart with the love of Christ, though, it's an issue. It's a big issue. Very clearly stated, the Bible says: "Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting; but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised."

Now, I'm almost certain that I don't stand alone when it comes to having gone to great lengths for the sake of outward appearance. I don't know about you, but until now, none of the quests for beauty I've been on have had a darn thing to do with fearing the Lord. Fearing gray hairs, yes; Fearing judgement, a larger dress size, blotchy skin, droopy eyelids, and brittle nails. Yes, all of the above and more.

I don't know why the Lord chose now to bring this to my heart; Maybe I've been spending too much time in front of the mirror and too little time in my Bible. Maybe it's because I will soon have three daughters in the house and this is a truth that they desperately need to realize early and often and I need to be ready to give it to them. Maybe it's because one of you readers needs to hear this just as much as I do. 

I love the message given in I Peter 3:3-5:

³  Do not let your adorning be external—the braiding of hair and the putting on of gold jewelry, or the clothing you wear— ⁴ but let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God's sight is very precious. ⁵ For this is how the holy women who hoped in God used to adorn themselves, by submitting to their own husbands,


What an awesome message to share with our friends and daughters! How on earth can we project beauty on the outside if our hearts are not adorned first? Why start our day digging through a cosmetics case instead of praising the Lord for all that's good? Many of the most beautiful women I know don't go to great extents with their daily beauty routines, but their Christlikeness makes them beautiful indeed! 

Of course, there's a little something to be said about outer beauty, too. As Nancy Leigh DeMoss says in her book, Lies Women Believe and the Truth that Sets them Free, "We as Christian women should seek to reflect the beauty, order, excellence and grace of God through our outward and inner person." She goes on to note that there is room for a balance between inner and outer beauty. This is evident in I Timothy 2:9-10.⁹ likewise also that women should adorn themselves in respectable apparel, with modesty and self-control, not with braided hair and gold or pearls or costly attire, ¹⁰ but with what is proper for women who profess godliness—with good works.

I think these are the messages that we need to be giving to our daughters, sisters, friends, and mothers. We need to heed Biblical direction and teach that insides adorned with a heart for Christ will ultimately lead to outer beauty as well.

So, my beautiful readers, I don't mean for you to run off and cancel all of your salon appointments, ditch your workouts and throw your cosmetic cases in the trash; the summary of this post is just this...before becoming overwhelmed with the world's definition of what's gorgeous, fill your heart with the true beauty of Christ and let that guide everything you do - including your morning makeup routine.