Searching for a Heart of Gold

Although this world will try to fool ya, the external appearance of a person has far less value than what lies beneath. Even as someone who has been a Christian for the majority of her life, I still struggle with this inward/outward battle. It seems impossible to escape it. Whether you are a follower of Jesus, or just learning about Him, I’m thinking that you can relate to what I’m saying so far. It is not my intent through this blog post to tell you that you should stop brushing your hair, buying new clothes ever, and destroy your make-up collection. I use all of those things, and I doubt I will stop using any of those things for many years. But what I can offer you, is that I have found my life more closely aligned to that of Jesus Christ’s as I have placed less emphasis on these things. Sometimes I feel like it is one step forward then two steps back in this area in my life, but I would still like to shed some light on the subject of appearances.

Allow me to start with a scripture: 1 Samuel 16:7b “...for man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart."

Now, if we could care less about God’s opinion of us and our actions, then this verse has no bearing. But, if we are truly aiming to honor God and obey Him in everything we do, we must take this to heart. The Bible says we are created in the image of God and it is not God’s desire that we become swept away by the things of the world; and pretend to be something we are not. Now, can I just say is God ever a good God or what?! He only wants what is best for us. It is not his desire that we strive after things we cannot achieve. That is what I have spent part of my life doing and I regret it. I have (and still do at times) buy into the lie that in order to be enough by the world’s standards it means I need to look a certain way. Again, I am not advocating unshaven armpits and no showers. But what I am saying is that we all put care and attention into our flesh (or outward appearance), yet how much time and effort do we put forth to maintain our inward beauty?

I struggled for a few years in my late teens with an eating disorder. And far more of us gals than I would like to think have also struggled with the same issue. Now, the root cause of this eating disorder was sin in my life and lack of trust in Jesus Christ. But besides that, the point I would like to make is that appearances are not always what they seem. For those few years, I was complimented more than in all the rest of life at how "good" I looked. Flattering as that may have been, I cringed a bit every time I heard it because I had an untold, shameful secret. I also remember going through years where I would not go out in public unless I had some make-up on. I was scared to. I also recall being fearful thinking about marriage and having someone see me for how I truly was/am. In hindsight, I feel like I am writing about a different girl, but it’s the truth. The world had warped and shaped my view of who I was, and fed me lie after lie until I was convinced I was not attractive enough for anyone. These lies came from a variety of sources. One is particular was magazines. I read them in high school, and I certainly read them more often than I read the Bible at that time. That was a mistake. The Bible tells me that I am precious in His sight, that “He (God)...wove me in my mother's womb.” (Psalm 139:13)

The problem with focusing on our looks is that it takes our focus off of Jesus and onto ourselves. John 3:30 tells us that "He must increase, but I must decrease.” The Bible emphasizes that a woman is not to be preoccupied with what she wears but with who she is (check out Peter 3:3-4 and 1 Timothy 2:9-10). I am convinced that by doing this, we will care more about others and in turn their salvation and care less about whether or not people rate us as a ten out of ten. Philippians 2:3-4 “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.” The more we learn about God’s character, and how much He loves us, the more inspired we will be to do His will. Colossians 3:10 “...and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator.” We were handpicked by God to live by a higher standard, and to set an example for those who seek Him/truth. As we "put on" Godly characteristics in our lives, it is an encouragement to our personal faith as well as a testimony to others. It is a win-win.

I leave you with one last Bible verse: Colossians 3:12 “Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.” Thank you for taking the time to read this excerpt, I pray it was helpful to you in some way, and I look forward to hearing from you if you want to chat. ☺