True Beauty

One Sunday morning, Jennifer fluttered her eyelashes into her reflection in the mirror. Unscrewing the mascara, she painstakingly applied the black gook and then leaned back in admiration. She looked exactly like the girls on her street! Well...almost exactly. Just some more foundation there, another dab of blush here...

"Jenn! I need the bathroom so I can get ready for church!"

Jennifer rolled her makeup-ed eyes at her brother's shouted request from the other side of the bathroom door. "Go find another bathroom!" she yelled.

"But this one has my toothbrush! We need to leave in five minutes!"

Stupid brother, Jennifer thought angrily. "Well, I need to get ready too!" she said aloud. "What will everyone else say when I go to church with uncombed hair?"

"But you've already combed your hair!" her brother protested. "And it took you half an hour, too!"

"Jennifer!" Dad yelled up the stairs. "Let Darren use the bathroom! We need to leave!"

"Okay, okay!" Jennifer begrudgingly gathered up her makeup and vacated the bathroom with a flounce.

"Darren, you're so selfish!" she hissed uncontrollably. "I'll get you for this!"

She angrily stomped downstairs to find Dad waiting for her.

"Are you ready, honey? Get your Bible and get in the car--"

Jennifer pushed past him and went into the nearest bathroom, slamming the door behind her.

Ten minutes later, Jennifer finally opened the door to realize that everyone else was waiting in the car. A guilty feeling, small but present, dug at her as she stepped outside.

Oh nuts! I need my Bible!

Then she pushed the thought away. I don't really need to bring my Bible anyway. But, she thought with a self-satisfied smile. I look really great with this makeup! I bet everyone will want to hang around with me now!

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Notice that? 'I don't really need to bring my Bible anyway. But I look really great with this makeup!'

Have you ever been more concerned about how your hair looked, or how your make-up looked, more than worshiping God? Maybe a better question to ask would be, 'Are you human?' Of course, basically everyone has focused too much on their outward beauty sometime in their life. Including me. Actually, I have done more than my fair share of it.

Before I continue, let me say clearly that I have nothing against makeup or arranging your hair nicely! The Lord tells us not to act like slobs! However, putting it in front of your faith is definitely not good at all.

In my short story, Jennifer is more concerned about attracting friends (probably not very good friends either, if the only way she could get them is to wear makeup) than serving the Lord--being courteous and nice to her brother and her dad and taking some time off of the makeup schedule to grab her Bible. Guilt does give her a little twinge, but only for a second.

I think that a quote from 'The Wise Woman' by George MacDonald puts it very well.

"But, if she [Agnes] were not made humble, her growing would be to a mass of distorted shapes all huddled together; so that, although the body she now showed might grow up straight and well-shaped and comely to behold, the new body that was growing inside of it, and would come out of it when she died, would be ugly, and crooked this way and that, like an aged hawthorn that has lived hundreds of years exposed upon all sides to salt-sea winds."

(By the way, I greatly suggest you read 'TWW'. It's very eye-opening).

Jennifer's makeup and good looks might show on the outside, but on the inside she's really rather ugly. Worshiping and serving the Lord is not only our makeup, but our whole form! If our facial features were affected by what we acted like, would we act like we do now?

I'm pretty sure I wouldn't.

'"The Lord does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart".' 1 Samuel 16:7b

Through the Lord's eyes, our features are affected by what we act like, because he looks at the heart! And we all know that it's the Lord's views that count.

Once again, I'm not saying that wearing makeup is bad. Not at all! But if it becomes an obsession, if we're constantly worrying about blurring our foundation during prayer time, then it becomes a bad thing.

I actually used to wear mascara often. Now, I hardly wear it at all. Why? Because it was becoming too much of a distraction. Why was I doing it anyway? I couldn't really think of any good reason, so I stopped. Besides, it isn't very practical for me. Our church contains a lot of soccer fans, so I often find myself swept up into a fast moving game of street-soccer. Or when I'm at my 4-H clubs--one of them, I work with animals, so makeup is kind of out of the question. The other one is shooting and archery, which requires so much concentration that I find myself sweating. That wouldn't really work with makeup!

However, makeup may work for you other ladies just fine! And if it is, then there's no problem with it! Looking nice can be Biblical.

But keep in mind that the beauty of your heart is more important than the beauty of your outward shell.

In Christ,

Princess Izori