Where True Beauty Lies - Martin Wiles

Don’t be concerned about the outward beauty of fancy hairstyles, expensive jewelry, or beautiful clothes. 1 Peter 3:3 NLT

“I was just trying to get pretty for you.”

My wife is a beautiful brunette, but for the past several years she has been highlighting her brunette hair with blond streaks. But the last time she had her hair colored, something happened. Since we didn’t have the funds for her to get her hair colored and highlighted, she chose to have it colored … blond.

 

As the beautician applied the chemical, my wife felt a burning sensation. When she got home, she looked in the mirror and saw that her scalp in the back was red. Things got worse. She developed headaches, then a tender scalp, and finally puss pockets.

A week after the coloring, she took a picture and sent it to our daughter-in-law who’s a nurse. The verdict? Infection. So my wife paid a visit to the local urgent care center where the doctor prescribed an antibiotic.

When my wife called to tell me the verdict, I said, “The next time you want to get pretty for me, just stay the way you are.”

Peter told first-century women not to go overboard with outward beauty, but to care for their inner beauty. Still good advice—for men, too.

Personally, I’m glad folks don’t face the world looking as they do when they first get out of bed—myself included. We wouldn’t look as we normally do, nor would we smell the same—at least not our breath. Outward grooming and good hygiene are important, but they are just that: outward.

What we do to dress up our outsides might impress others for a while—the boss, the boyfriend, the girlfriend, the wife or husband, the best friend—but it won’t last. Eventually, those we try to impress with our outward looks will see the inside through our actions and attitudes.

I’ve known some people who were gorgeous or handsome on the outside, but ugly on the inside. Their words or actions made them that way. We can’t hide forever what’s on the inside. It will color our lifestyle.

While tending to the outside is important, caring for the inside is more so. When we are in a right relationship with God, our inner beauty will shine through, and this is the light God wants others to see more than our outward appearance.

Make sure your inner beauty is the true beauty others see.

Prayer: Father, beautify us on the inside so others can see Your beauty shining through us.

Tweetable: Where do you try to find beauty?

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Beauty Amidst the Clouds - Martin Wiles

The Lord opened the young man’s eyes, and when he looked up, he saw that the hillside around Elisha was filled with horses and chariots of fire. 2 Kings 6:17 NLT

At first glance, it appeared we’d see nothing.

Balsam Mountain Road. Just off the Blue Ridge Parkway and about halfway between Maggie Valley and Cherokee, North Carolina. A road rising to just over 5300 feet in elevation. An asphalt road that ends in a loop, but a gravel road that continues another 20 miles to Cherokee. A road that hosts a primitive campground at the end. This was our destination.

As my wife and I turned off the Blue Ridge Parkway and began our ascent, clouds thickened. Passing an old Masonic historical marker, we noticed several elk grazing on the green grass. We stopped to take pictures of animals who didn’t seem to mind if we approached them.

The clouds intensified. By the time we reached the campground, seeing the campers and the layout of the campground was difficult. Campers mulled about, finishing up breakfast and packing their belongings. We saw only their silhouettes.

Leaving the campground, we trekked down the gravel road toward Cherokee. The clouds remained, but amidst them we observed beauty. Although late in June, a number of wildflower species still bloomed. Numerous waterfalls flowed over stillborn rocks. Birds sang their melodies.

King Aram was angry at Elisha the prophet. Every time the king made plans to attack Israel, God revealed to Elisha the plan so he could tell the king of Israel. The king of Aram sent a great army to surround the city where Elisha lived. When Elisha’s servant saw them, he cried out in fear. Elisha calmed him and asked God to show the servant the beauty amidst the clouds. He did. A hillside filled with chariots of fire. No need to worry.

God is sovereign and always works behind our cloudy skies. We may never know completely what God is up to. He normally only gives us snippets of what He’s doing, but we can be sure He is always up to something.

One thing God continually works on is His image in us. He busily forms us into the image of Christ, working to make us more like Him. This requires change. What He asks of us is that we trust Him, submit to Him, and obey Him. When we do, the clouds eventually burn away and we experience the full beauty of His creation.

Trust God that behind the clouds lies a beauty such as you’ve never witnessed.

Prayer: Father, we believe You have our best at heart and are working to complete it in our lives.

Tweetable: Are you missing the beauty around you? 

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The Right Clothing - Martin Wiles

“I can’t go in these,” he protested to Saul. “I’m not used to them.” So David took them off again. 1 Samuel 17:39 NLT

What I wear can change my life.

I’m glad I live when casual dress is the norm. I’ve never enjoyed wearing a tie, nor a three-piece suit. Where I teach, casual is accepted. No ties or suits. 

But neither can I wear blue jeans, except on Friday which is our casual casual day. If I wore jeans on other days, my lead teacher or headmaster would call me in, question why I was violating the dress code, and give me a warning. If I continued to wear clothing that violated the dress code, he would hand me my walking papers. My life would change. I’d be out of a job with no means to pay my bills.

Clothing speaks volumes. Women of the evening wear certain clothes so men will know they are women of the evening. People may dress in certain ways when they are attempting to impress or attract a certain girl or boy. Others wear particular clothes or shoes because they fit the going style and they want to join the “in” crowd.

Shepherd boy David discovered some clothes weren’t for him. When no one else would fight the cocky Philistine giant, Goliath, who made fun of David’s God, David stepped up for the job. King Saul offered David his armor. David tried it on, but it was too large, so he gave it back. He faced the giant clothed in shepherd’s attire with a sling and a few rocks. He wore the right clothing for the task at hand.

Paul says we should clothe ourselves with Christ (Romans 13:14). This happens initially when I believe Jesus paid for my sins on Calvary’s cross, acknowledge my sinfulness, ask Him to forgive me, and pledge to obey Him. God the Father then clothes me with the righteousness of His Son, justifying me and fitting me for heaven.

But I must put on Christ daily thereafter. This happens when I realize what’s on the inside carries more importance than what’s on the outside. While my clothing should be decent and not revealing, the styles are unimportant. So is the makeup, cologne, perfume, jewelry, and hair color.

Outward beauty comes from inner beauty—a relationship with Christ wherein I try each day to reflect His attitude, actions, love, and kindness toward others.

Focus more on your inner beauty. When that’s intact, it will shine brightly on the outside.

Tweetable: Are you dressed in the proper clothing?

Prayer: Father, beautify us on the inside so our outside will show Your love to the world.

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Littered but Lovely - Martin Wiles

Reign over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, and all the animals that scurry along the ground. Genesis 1:28 NLT

God sticks beauty in the ugliest of places.

Most of my morning walk is through a neighboring subdivision, kept clean by a landscaping company the residents pay to cut the grass and trim the shrubbery. They also blow away debris. Seeing litter here is unusual. When I do see a piece of trash, it looks out of place. But the last leg of my journey takes me behind a row of businesses that back up to our subdivision. While the front of the businesses is tidy, the backs are neglected. Paper litters the roadway and hangs in tree limbs and bushes.

I often wonder if the owners and managers of those businesses ever walk out back and look at the mess. Or why they don’t make their employees clean it up occasionally. I’ve thought about picking up the litter myself, but it’s such a mess that I’d never get through.

Yet as I walked one morning, I noticed beauty in the middle of the mess. Among the pines and oaks that separate the businesses from our subdivision, several mimosa trees bloomed. I marveled over how God can put something lovely among ugly things.

What God originally created and gave humans charge over was beautiful. No trash. No litter of any type. Not even the bodies of the humans were littered. Until sin came in. Like litter, it marred the beauty of God’s creation. Sin causes things to rust and break down. Sin leads humans to trash their world in more ways than by tossing litter on the ground. Sin leads to lust, crime, hate, anger, fear, and a thousand other forms of litter. Sin marred God’s image in humanity.

But all is not lost. Although sin marred, it didn’t destroy. God’s image still rises up for good—especially after we trust Christ as our Savior. It prompts us to do good things—to clean up the litter of our world, physically and spiritually. God’s image in me makes me want to enhance the earth I live on, not trash it. The image makes me want to show kindness, eliminate hate, pick up litter, heal hurts, and do anything possible to bring this world closer to the way it originally was.

Why not think of ways you can put beauty back in God’s world.

Prayer: Father, prompt us to season the world You’ve created with goodness and light. 

Tweetable: How are you caring for God's creation?

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