THINK TOGETHER.
What makes a person beautiful?
READ TOGETHER
Proverbs 31:30. Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain, but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised.
One of the biggest temptations you will face as you grow up is the temptation of charm and beauty. Both of these our outward things. Charm – how you act in order to show off, or get attention. Beauty – how you look on the outside.
The problem with charm is that when you show off to get attention, or flatter people to get them to like you, you are not being honest. Worse yet, you may try to use your charm just to get what you want from someone. Have you ever tried to use charm to get mom or dad to change their mind?
The problem with beauty is that it is vain. This means that it won’t last. It’s like the wind that comes and goes quickly.
We live in a world that puts far too much value on the outward things instead of the inward things, like fearing the Lord. People spend billions of dollars a year trying to look more and more beautiful. Clothes. Make-up. Exercise equipment. Sometimes people even get surgery to be more beautiful or to look younger.
Why? Because we think that how we look on the outside is the most important thing about us. Obviously no one wants to be made fun of for how they look. And there’s nothing wrong with wanting to look nice. Beauty is a gift from God. But our inner beauty is far more important than our outer beauty.
Jesus wasn’t beautiful. The Bible says that there was nothing special about the way he looked. Jesus also wasn’t charming. He didn’t say what people wanted to hear. Jesus feared the Lord! He obeyed God. His beauty was on the inside. Even right now, in Heaven, Jesus still has his ugly wounds from the cross. But that’s what makes him beautiful – his love for us. And that’s what makes us beautiful too – when we love others like Jesus loves us.
Because of Jesus we have the inner beauty of God’s love.
With Jesus we don’t have to deceive with charm or outward beauty.
DO SOMETHING TOGETHER
Together, look at advertising that promotes beauty. Talk about how tempting it is to find our value in how we look on the outside, rather than our inner character.
PRAY TOGETHER
Jesus, help me focus on my inside beauty far more than my outside beauty. Amen.
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