Purchased Pretty vs. Timeless Beauty

By Rachel Coltharp

We are made in the image of God. We, His creation, love beauty. We long for it. We need it. But like all needs, the need for beauty can be twisted to our hurt.

The warped world we live in has taken this need for beauty and turned it into something ugly. Instead of encouraging us to become beautiful through growth, through the practice of the spiritual disciplines, it tells us that we can BUY beauty. We see it in the new in advertisement papers and compare it to last year's new in our closet, and it tells us that we need... We see it in the faux flawless faces and the airbrushed altered bodies on the billboards, and in the face in the mirror cannot compare.

You need this product... [and you'll need a new one tomorrow]
You need this look... [and there will be a new one next season]
You need this thing... [and it will wear out, or go out of style soon]

And the ugly truth behind the lie is that you will wear yourself out running after purchased pretty. Don't let the things that make you beautiful be things on the outside, like the way you arrange your hair, or the clothing you wear. Make sure that your beauty comes from inside you, the unfading beauty of a gentle, quieted spirit, which is highly valued in God's sight. (I Peter 3:3)

This is not saying "Don't wear beautiful things" - it is saying, "Don't let what makes you beautiful be things."

Real beauty can't be bought. It's not in a tube or on a hanger. You can't arrange it, not with a braid, or a pin curl, or with a brush. You can't wear it, you have to grow it.

Fashion fades. Bodies age. But real beauty is a treasure all can afford, and none outgrow.

Editorial Note: Rachel is the wife of Brent Coltharp, pastor of  First Apostolic Church in Aurora, Illinois. Homeschooling mother of four, she writes, speaks, and sings about the goodness of the Lord and the joy of walking with Him.