Pursuing Beauty and Outward Adornment to the Glory of God | Esther Edmonds

The Peg and the Pen: "Penning words in order to shape culture and to train women to hammer with a peg the tyrants that the Lord has placed in their path of obedience."

A version of this article originally appeared in Issue Three of the KTC magazine.

An Argentine woman whom I will probably never meet, never get to witness, never get to express my gratitude to, will forever (as long as my memory serves me) be someone I shall always associate with true feminine beauty. My parents got the wonderful opportunity to meet and talk to  her several times while they were in Argentina. She was no one special at least by the world’s standards, but she was vital to the story God was writing for my mother and father. I have been told again and again and again by them that this woman was not beautiful externally upon first glance, but upon further acquaintance she became “one of the most beautiful ladies on earth.” 

Now, I say that by the world’s standards this woman was not beautiful because the world’s standards of beauty are merely external. The world sees beauty as simply an aesthetic. But, people like this Argentine woman, of whom I will talk more on later, are a walking contradiction of that definition. Think about it. How many times have you, if I may use a cliche “judged a book by its cover”? How many times have we looked upon a person and judged them as beautiful and then upon further acquaintance found them to be utterly ugly? Or, how many times have you met someone that seemed extremely comely and then after getting to know them found them to be one of the most beautiful people you know? The very fact that this happens proves that the definition of beauty must be deeper than just the mere external adornment or looks of a person. So, how should we define beauty? 

God is beauty and is therefore the source of all beauty. 

Do you have an arm like God’s,

    and can your voice thunder like his?

Then adorn yourself with glory and splendor,

    and clothe yourself in honor and majesty. –Job 40:9-10 (NKJV) 

Praise the Lord, my soul.

Lord my God, you are very great;    you are clothed with splendor and majesty. –Psalm 104:1 (NKJV)

The Lord reigns, he is robed in majesty;

    the Lord is robed in majesty and armed with strength;

    indeed, the world is established, firm and secure. –Psalm 93:1 (NKJV)

One thing I ask from the Lord,

    this only do I seek:

that I may dwell in the house of the Lord

    all the days of my life,

to gaze on the beauty of the Lord

    and to seek him in his temple. –Psalm 27:4 (NKJV)

Now, your response may be similar to my response which was, yes! I understand God is beauty but, what makes God beautiful? Because there exists in this world things that are beautiful that are clearly not God (i.e. people, flowers, sunsets, etc.) So, in order to understand what beauty is, we need to understand what makes God, God. The reason I say this is because if God is beauty then in order to understand beauty we need to understand God. God’s holiness is what makes God beautiful (2 Chronicles 20:21; Exodus 15:11.) God’s holiness contains all of the other virtues of God within it (joy, love, peace, kindness, etc.)

After consulting the people, Jehoshaphat appointed men to sing to the Lord and to praise him for the splendor of his holiness as they went out at the head of the army, saying:

“Give thanks to the Lord,    for his love endures forever.” –2 Chronicles 20:21 (NKJV)

Who among the gods    is like you, Lord?Who is like you—    majestic in holiness,awesome in glory,    working wonders? –Exodus 15:11 (NKJV)

Holiness, God’s holiness, contains all of the other virtues of God within it (joy, love, peace, kindness, etc.) for these are the things that make Him set apart; these virtues which are completely contrary to human nature are what make God so different. They are what make Him beautiful. God is the source of all of this goodness. He is pure! He is joy! He is love!

Now, what does this have to do with our pursuit of beauty and outward adornment? Well, we are called to be imitators of God, right? (Eph. 5:11) Therefore, we are called to be imitators of God in His holiness (Lev. 11:44; 19:2; 1 Peter 1:16). This is what true beauty is. Something that is beautiful, is a reflection of the ultimate Beauty which is God. The morality of a thing is the aesthetic. So, when we obey God and do what He says and what He commands, we are being beautified. This is made clear when Paul instructs the women saying: 

“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.” 

Now notice here that Paul is not saying do not adorn yourself outwardly, but he is saying that the focus of your adornment should be internal. It should be in your heart. A gentle and quiet spirit is one that is not fearful of anything but Christ (Proverbs 31:30.) 

This spirit is calm because the woman who has this type of spirit is trusting in God like her mother Sarah.

“For in this manner, in former times, the holy women who trusted in God also adorned themselves, being submissive to their own husbands, as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord, whose daughters you are if you do good and are not afraid with any terror.” (1 Peter 3:5-6)

Therefore, when we have a gentle and quiet spirit, we are adorning ourselves. God adorns us Himself with the beauty of Himself when we become like Him and obey Him. We are supposed to clothe ourselves in righteousness (Psalm 132:9; Isaiah 61:10; Job 29:14) and humility (1 Peter 5:5) which can only happen by the saving grace of the One who made us in the first place. The source of where true beauty resides. Of course we will not do this perfectly, but God has given us a wonderful promise that when we are resurrected in glory, we will be completely purified in Him just as He is pure (1 John 3:2-3.) We will blossom into a glorious flower that is completely pure and beautiful and we will meet Him at the marriage supper of the Lamb clothed in fine linen of righteous deeds (Rev. 19:7-8.)

I would like to add here that I am not saying do not be concerned at all about physical outward adornment. Physical adornment is a reflection upon our head (father or husband) and upon our ultimate Head (God)! So what we wear does matter. We are made to be a crown and so what we wear should be beautiful. 

So, what are some practical tips for beautifying oneself to the glory of God? 

First, we need to keep in mind that we are walking billboards and so the key to think about when you get ready is, what am I promoting here? What am I advertising? Am I promoting something that is lovely or am I promoting something that the Lord would be displeased by? For instance, if you saw a woman on the street dressed in six inch high heels, with a spaghetti strapped pink sequin dress that barely covered her bottom, what do you think she would be advertising? She is advertising cheap “love”. Now, you might say, “Well I would never wear anything like that. I am a good Christian woman.” To which I would reply, “Great! But did you ever stop and think about what you are advertising when you wear those same sweat pants and baggy t-shirt and five day old hair to the store?” The sweats and the baggy shirt are not inherently bad but if we are honest with ourselves we know deep down this is not promoting a pure, Godly, Christian aesthetic to all of the fellow shoppers. It is more so promoting a lack of having your life in order. Now, I am not saying that wearing sweats and having five day old hair is sinful. It is not. But I am trying to communicate that we as Christian women need to think about what we are communicating when we put on our outfits in the morning. An occasional bad hair day is not a bad thing, but Christian women need not make a habit out of it. 

Tying into the first tip, I would also say when beautifying yourself, be modest. I know that this seems like an obvious answer but it is shocking to me how many women don’t know what it fully means. Modesty doesn’t just mean don’t wear shorts that are too short. It certainly does mean that, but modesty also means to wear appropriate clothes that match your lifestyle and setting. How is it that a washerwoman from the 19th century wearing a bonnet, a full length dress and a petticoat was modest but if a woman today wore that same outfit to drop off her husband’s lunch to him in an accounting office, it would be completely immodest? It is because that woman back in the 19th century was wearing the appropriate clothes for her day, her lifestyle and her setting whereas a woman wearing that same outfit to her husband’s work would not. This is an area of modesty that is commonly forgotten in our day and we would all do well to remember it. This mindset of dressing to fit the times is going to get you on the right track of becoming a classy woman which would be a very good advertisement! I would also add as a hot tip when trying to be modest, do not wear something that you know is going to intentionally draw unnecessary attention to yourself. For instance, wearing a cropped shirt that is showing off your belly button is not something that would honor the Lord. He did not create your belly button for the world to see. He created your belly to bring forth children into this world. You are drawing complete and unnecessary attention to yourself when you wear only sports bras, cropped tops, bikinis, etc. The reason Christian women should not wear things like this is because you are displaying what God did not intend for every person to see. God created certain parts of your body to remain hidden in order to give it great honor (1 Cor. 12:23-25). Another tip I shall give about modesty is don’t put gobs and gobs of makeup on your face to the point where you don’t even look like your natural self anymore. This is a common thing in our day and it is honestly very ugly. Makeup should only highlight the image that God made, not completely alter it. Be grateful for the way God made your face! 

A good question to ask yourself when trying to beautify yourself is what does your head like? What does your family compliment you on? Pay attention to subtle hints like this to develop a classic style that is a blessing to your head and family. If your husband doesn’t like your family to wear matching denim jumpsuits then don’t make your family matching denim jumpsuits. We want to honor our head not bring shame upon him.

Another tip is to make sure that you look kept up and clean. Don’t wear a shirt that has holes in it or is smelly. This is just something that is loving to your family and those around you. One read through Leviticus and it is abundantly clear that God cares about how His people look and smell. So, if your shirt has a hole, mend it or buy a new one. As God’s people, we don’t want to look like we just rolled out of bed and didn’t do anything to adorn ourselves. God gave us clothes to wear and ways to beautify ourselves outwardly, so let’s use it to the glory of Him.

We are the temples of God (1 Cor. 3:16-18). The Holy Spirit dwells within us and so we should adorn ourselves accordingly. If you are struggling with knowing what is immodest in your closet, pray over it. Ask God to give you wisdom with knowing what would be immodest to wear and be ready to respond to His answer because He will answer. 

So, going back to the beginning… Why was this Argentine woman beautiful? She was beautiful because she had adorned herself with the holiness of God. She had clothed herself in righteous deeds. She was loving and respectful to her husband and she was hospitable. Her inward adornment and beauty made her outwardly more and more attractive. She showed my mother an example of what a beautiful and feminine woman of God looks like and it is glorious! I will forever be indebted to this woman for this because my mother took that image of beauty home with her and imitated it, and as a result gave me a wonderful example of what true feminine beauty looks like. 

Along with this point of feminine and modest outward adornment…

My mother and sister and I have noticed that it has gotten increasingly difficult for our friends and acquaintances and ourselves to buy modest clothing that is both beautiful and inexpensive. So, we decided to launch a company called Feminine Glory. We are attempting to help women around us to stop being slaves to the trends and give women clothing that they can afford and still look beautiful and classic. If you want to check it out, you can find us on social media @feminineglorystore or on our website at feminineglory.store. 

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