Beautiful Women

Beautiful Women

Sarah, Rebekah, Esther, Bathsheba

Tonya Ruiz began modeling at age fifteen and soon signed with a prestigious modeling agency in Paris. She spent the next two years traveling the world to pose for magazine covers, billboards, and posters and appearing in commercials and movies. In her book, Beauty Quest: A Model’s Journey, Tonya admits that she got caught up in the ugly side of the beauty and fashion industry, with alcohol, drugs, and eating disorders. At age eighteen, she decided to end her life, but God had other plans for her.

Being beautiful doesn’t guarantee happiness, and the Bible includes stories of women for whom great beauty caused serious problems. Twice, when Sarah and Abraham traveled to a new place, Abraham feared that someone would kill him in order to get his beautiful wife. He asked Sarah to pretend that she was just his sister, which led to tricky difficulties. Abraham’s son Isaac repeated this scene with his wife, Rebekah. As a young Jewish girl, Esther’s beauty caught the attention of Persian officials who were gathering girls for the ruler’s harem. A bathing beauty named Bathsheba caught King David’s eye, prompting an adulterous affair that caused both of them much heartbreak.

Our society tries to convince women that we would have better lives if we were beautiful, but that’s not true. The Bible teaches that true beauty comes from who we are on the inside, not from being overly concerned with our outward appearance. God wants us to develop a pure heart, a gentle, loving attitude toward others, and a spirit that quietly trusts in him at all times. When we allow the Holy Spirit to control us, we display the kind of beauty that catches God’s eye. Through Tonya’s new relationship with Christ, she discovered the true beauty that never fades away and never causes problems.

You should clothe yourselves instead with the beauty that comes from within, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is so precious to God.

1 Peter 3:4