The Bible has a lot to say about what makes things beautiful in the eyes of God. It covers all areas of beauty as defined in Webster’s dictionary as follows: “1. That quality or set of qualities in a thing that gives pleasure to the senses or pleasantly exalts the mind or spirit; physical, moral, or spiritual beauty. 2. A beautiful person or thing, especially a beautiful woman 3. A particular grace, ornament, or excellence, anything beautiful, such as the beauties of nature.” It would do us and others good to see the things that are beautiful in the eyes of God.
It is interesting to note that the word “beauty” is not found in the New Testament and that “beautiful” is found only 4 times in it. “Beautiful” is found 19 times and “beauty” is found 49 times in the Old Testament. “Beauties” is found once and “beautify” is found 3 times in the Old Testament.
The Bible refers to several women as beautiful. He warns men not to allow a woman’s beauty to lead them into adulterous activities. The true beauty of a woman is not external, but rather an inner beauty that shines from her beautiful spirit of love and kindness. This type of woman would never do anything to seduce a man into committing adultery or fornication with her. She is encouraged to live a life of devotion to God and his ways. She such a woman will not dress in such a way that she is called “sexy”. She will not accentuate parts of her body to attract attention. See 1 Peter 3 for instructions on how this should be done in a family setting.
The Bible tells us about the “beauty of holiness.” See 1 Chronicles 16:8-36. This is the way we are to “worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness.” See 2 Chronicles 20:1-29 to see how the Israelites won over their enemies when they praised “the beauty of holiness.” Psalm 29:2 tells us: “Give to the Lord the glory due to his name; worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness.” Psalm 96 gives us the reason why we should “worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness” and “fear before Him, all the earth.” The most beautiful thing that can happen to a person is to “worship God in spirit and in truth.” 2 Corinthians 7:1 tells us what to do to perfect “holiness.”
In Ecclesiastes 3:11 we are told that God “made everything beautiful in its time.” Timing has a lot to do with a beautiful life of holiness. Most of you have probably never heard of this before. In this chapter we find 14 contrasting activities that are “beautiful in his time.” If the timing is wrong, the action is very destructive for everyone involved. Beauty turns to ashes.
Only God can make an ugly thing beautiful. He can take a person who is lost and broken and make that person a vessel of honor. How he does it is beyond our natural ability. The fact that a person has an ugly spirit now does not mean that there is no hope that he will someday transform into something beautiful. The Bible and history attest to this. Testimonies of God’s redeeming love and grace are all around us.
In Song of Songs 7:1a we read: “How beautiful are your shod feet, O daughter of princes!” On the other hand, Isaiah 52:7 and Romans 10:15b tell us “How beautiful are the feet of those who announce the gospel of peace and announce good news!” God is more interested in our feet being “shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace” than in our beautiful shoes. Man looks at the outward appearance and God looks at the heart. Look at Ephesians 6:10-19 to see how the whole armor of the Lord is a beautiful sight in the eyes of God.
In short, the things of God’s creation, whether physical or spiritual, are beautiful. Things that dishonor God are ugly. God is in the business of turning ugly things into beautiful. See Isaiah 61 to see what God’s intentions are for our lives.