Have you ever felt like you don't measure up to what the world says beauty is?

Our eyes are constantly bombarded with magazine ads showing women looking ridiculously thin and men with muscles so ripped that they make us want to run to the gym and workout. Between the billboards you see when you are driving, the TV shows and movies, and photos you see on the Internet it sure seems like the world has a standard of beauty. You have to have the right hairstyle and the trendiest clothes and let's face it...those payless shoes just aren't cutting it.

Do pimples and bad hair days ruin your day?

This video devotion is all about opening your eyes to two things you need to know:

1. How the world is lying to you about beauty.
2. What the creator of beauty says beauty is.

First, let's take a look at how the world is lying to you. Watch this video about how the media actually creates a false image of beauty that literally is impossible for us to live up to.



Interesting...What's the lesson here?

• Girls: You can't look like the supermodles do in the magazines...why? Because they can't even look like that! It's all photoshopped and fake!
  
  
• Guys: Please don't make girls feel like they need to look like this. It's not possible. It's a distorted view of beauty that is messed up. This isn't what you should be looking for in a girl.

Now let's look at what God says about beauty:

• 1 Peter 3:3-4 "Do not let your adornment be merely outward—arranging the hair, wearing gold, or putting on fine apparel— rather let it be the hidden person of the heart, with the incorruptible beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is very precious in the sight of God."
  
  
• Psalm 90:17 - "...let the beauty of the LORD our God be upon us..."
  
  
• Proverbs 31:30 - "Charm is deceitful and beauty is passing, But a woman who fears the LORD, she shall be praised."
  
  
• Psalm 147:1 - "Praise the LORD!For it is good to sing praises to our God; For it is pleasant, and praise is beautiful."
  
  
• Psalm 139:14 - "I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made"
  
  
• Matthew 23:27 - “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness.
  

If you read the Bible you will see that God cares about the inside person - who you are in your heart/mind. You can put on all the paint you want - but if you have a rotten heart then you aren't beautiful. God created each of us - He designed each of us - and He is so very happy with how we turned out on the outside, but He is so much more very concerned with the person we are becoming on the inside. Why? Because that is where the real beauty of a person lives.

If outward beauty were really important then don't you think God would have made Jesus look what the world considers beautiful? Isaiah 53:2 speaks of Jesus and says "...And when we see Him, There is no beauty that we should desire Him." Jesus' face wasn't billboard material according to what Hollywood would want, but because He allowed Himself to be nailed to a board He is everything that I want.

How much time will you spend today in front of the mirror checking your hair and clothes compared to how much time you will spend in front of the mirror of the Word (James 1:23) checking your heart. What matters most to you - the outside or the inside? Let's spend less time today trying to get ourselves looking like billboard material and more time taking up our board (cross) and following Jesus (Matthew 16:24). That will lead to real beauty.

God thinks you are beautiful and doesn't want to change one thing about you on the outside, but I think we all know there is some changing on the inside that we need to let Him do.