Beauty: (n) Attractive or Appeasing to the Senses

          Beauty. What is it really? The Internet defines beauty as-appeasing to the senses; attractive; or sparking jealousy (that last one really catches me). Next question! How many of you feel beautiful all of the time? Not normally, right? Especially with all these size negative 12 models out there flaunting what they got. I just want to encourage and remind you that what's on the outside doesn't matter as much as what is on the inside.
          Matthew 23: 25-28 says, "Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. ²⁶ Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean.
²⁷ “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of the bones of the dead and everything unclean. ²⁸ In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness." (NIV Version)
          In this passage Jesus is talking to the scribes and Pharisees. The scribes and Pharisees were the ones who took the Old Testament very seriously. They took it so seriously that they became extreme in their beliefs and blinded themselves to the New Testament Savior, Jesus Christ. Basically, they didn't believe that Jesus was the Messiah promised in the Old Testament (Isaiah 7:14). In Matthew 23, Jesus told these extremists that they were making themselves look shiny, glistening white on the outside, BUT their hearts (souls) were wicked and dirty.
          Jesus also shared with them that in order for their outsides to be truly clean, they must wash their insides first. So before we can truly be beautiful on the outside, we must be pure/clean on the inside. Jesus is stating that you can scrub yourself clean with a loofah, cloth yourself in Urban Outfitter/Ambercrombie/Forever21, paint your face with Ulta/Sephora, and look like all those negative sized models, but that doesn't mean that you are truly beautiful.
          Matthew 16:26 clearly states, "For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?" Don't let the world yank you down when they try to tell you that you are not as special as those few selected beauty queens, because you are beautiful when you've been washed by the blood of the Lamb!
          The Bible also says in Proverbs 31:30, "Charm is deceitful and beauty is passing, but a woman who fears the LORD shall be praised." In the end, when Christ returns and we stand before the Maker of the world, we are not going to be rewarded for those "cute new Chacos" you paid $70 for. Christ is going to examine your heart! Be prepared! Inner beauty is what it comes down to in the end.
          I would also like to add that there is nothing wrong with looking nice OR having all those items/brands that I included above. When you make those trinkets your everything, or when you allow those pieces of cloth to be your idol, main concern, and superior reason for doing things, then that is wrong. Exodus 20:3 relays to us, "You shall have no other gods before me," and 1 Samuel 12:21 states, "Do not turn away after useless idols. They can do you no good, nor can they rescue you, because they are useless."
          The Bible is clear on how God feels about idolatry-Psalms 97:7, "Let all be put to shame who serve carved images, who boast of idols. Worship Him, all you gods," as well as in Jeremiah 2:5 (NIV), "What fault did your ancestors find in me, that they strayed so far from me? They followed worthless idols and became worthless themselves."
          Don't serve those idols! Beauty on the outside won't get you into heaven. (John 14:6 & Romans 10:9)