Self Worth Comes From Within

"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." ~1 Peter 3:4

 

Have you ever woken up and had a song stuck in your head for absolutely no reason? That happened to me today, and I haven't been able to shake the feeling that there actually was a reason behind it. The song that was on my mind this morning was "Young & Beautiful" by Lana Del Rey. It caught me by surprise because I really don't listen to her music at all and that is seriously the only song I know by her. It was part of the soundtrack for The Great Gatsby when it was in theaters last year, but I never actually went to see the movie either. In the past few months, the song popped up on my Pandora radio, but I haven't gone out of my way to listen to the song, until today.

You see, the very premise of the song is a woman's yearning to know if she will still be loved when she's no longer young and beautiful. Let that sink in for a minute. Some of you might brush the idea off, but this is a very real reality for many women. Satan has so influenced culture and perception and fooled women into truly believing that their worth is completely wrapped up in their beauty. Satan infuses this concept into every bit of media that constantly bombards women of all ages today. Billboards, commercials, movies, music, Instagram, you name it, the main idea conveyed is that you are only accepted if you have a certain body type and have the perfect facial features. If that begins to fade, we're told that it's almost our duty to make sure that we either have surgery, inject collagen or botox, paint on a pretty face, or starve ourselves in order to continue to be accepted. My heart breaks for any and all women that have fallen for this popular lie. I pity them and the effort they feel they must put into looking beautiful and presentable because this idea comes straight from the pit of hell. It's meant to make women insecure so that they doubt their worth. If they feel unworthy, they'll feel unloved, which could hinder their ability to accept Jesus' unconditional. This sense of unworthiness will undermine their very eternal salvation.

What we as Christian women must do is turn to Scripture. Within the Bible, Peter writes that our beauty is no external, but comes from within. Our countenance and spirit never change or fades over time, and that is where God tells us to find our worth. When we begin to believe the truth of the Bible, no longer will we feel the need to question whether or not we will be loved when we are no longer young and beautiful. An unchanging internal spirit means that part of us stays the same, and that is the part of us that people should fall in love with. Our acceptance and received love should not be based on our looks, but what's inside our hearts. It's more important to be a loving and compassionate soul than the most externally beautiful person. I hope and pray that you'll recognize that your personality has way more to do with your soul than your looks and that you'll find a way to love yourself, flaws and all. Don't believe the lies within the media. You are beautiful regardless of what anybody tells you about your appearance. And if you feel that a friend might be falling for these lies, encourage her and tell her that she's beautiful. Reinforce her with the Word of God, which is Truth because that's what we all yearn to hear at the end of the day.