By Miss Hannah H. - 2009 Essay Contest Grand Prize Winner
There are two types of beauty. There is the way the world sees beauty and the way God sees beauty.
The magazines tell us that the world looks at you, to see your beauty. It looks at your body, makeup, clothes, and hair. It says you can't be fat and you need to show your body. You can't look old and you have to wear makeup. You also need to color your hair. They even like it when you wear tight clothes, earrings, necklaces, and bracelets.
The Bible tells us that God looks in you, to see your beauty. He looks in your heart and in Matthew 23:27 He warns us you can "outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people's bones and all uncleanness." Psalm 129:14-16 tells us that we are fearfully and wonderfully made and we don't have to worry about being fat. We are made by God. 1 Timothy 2:9-10 says, "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, but with what is proper for women who profess godliness." Proverbs 14:30 tells us, "A tranquil heart gives life to the flesh, but envy makes the bones rot."
Galatians 5:22-23 says, "But the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control." These things in our heart are what make us beautiful. God wants us to know that. The Bible says in 1 Corinthians 13:4-6 "Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth." Joy means to be happy and content. Peace means to be clam. Patience means being able to wait. Kindness means to be nice to other people every day. Goodness means to be good. Faithfulness means being trustworthy to do what you say. Gentleness means to no be harsh, rough or loud. To have self control means to keep your body from doing what it shouldn't. These are all things we need to work on.
It's ok to be not perfect on the outside in your eyes, it's your heart that matters to God.
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