Proverbs 31:30-31. 30Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain, but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised. 31Give her of the fruit of her hands, and let her works praise her in the gates.
Charming and beautiful, now that’s a deadly combination. Any person with both a good personality and good looks seems to be set for life. But not according to these last couple verses in Proverbs. Not much has changed in three thousand years has it. We are still drawn toward someone with charm and beauty far more than we are drawn to someone who fears the Lord.
Sometimes I think about the single young adults in my church, many of whom would love to be married. They pass by each other on Sunday, not even noticing that they are looking past someone who fears the Lord. Why? Because the charm and the beauty are lacking? Because they aren’t checking external boxes?
The warning from Proverbs is that these externals are only temporary at best, and deceptive at worst. Charm and beauty are two words that combine to describe the shallowest expressions of the self. Charm and beauty aren’t in and of themselves evil, but they sure can be a cover-up for evil and shame. Often things that look the best to the eye are the most damaging to the soul. The forbidden fruit was “pleasing to the eye,” yet in it there was obviously no fear of the Lord. Adam and Eve tried to cover their shame with the “fig leaves” of deception and vanity.
Jacob’s attraction to the outer beauty of Rachel sent him down a path of deception and misery at the hands of his father-in-law, Laban.
Samson’s attraction to the beauty of Delilah left him spiritually and physically blinded (and dead).
David’s attraction to the outer beauty of Bathsheba turned him into a murderous liar.
Absalom’s inner vanity was displayed through his outer beauty, his luscious hair. The same hair that would ensnare him in the tree of execution.
And, of course Satan himself, the most beautiful of God’s cherubs, allowed his splendor to make him proudly believe that he could be God himself. The ultimate in self-deception.
By contrast, Jesus wasn’t a charmer. He didn’t speak and act in ways just to make others like him. He was the most real and authentic person who ever lived.
Jesus also wasn’t outwardly beautiful. The scriptures say that there was nothing special about the way Jesus looked. He was Leah, not Rachel.
Isaiah 53:2. He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.
Jesus’ beauty was internal. He feared the Lord, and he served us, and that’s what makes him so lovely. Even right now, in Heaven, Jesus still has his ugly wounds from the cross, but that’s what makes him so beautiful, and so charming – his sacrificial love for us.
In Christ we have the same beauty as Jesus, the inner beauty of the gentle and quiet spirit that Peter talked about. The eternal beauty of a glory that will never fade away. The beauty of the character of Jesus. The charm of kindness, gentleness, and humility. This is the fear of the Lord that will be praised.
You: How focused are you on outer beauty and charm?
You in Christ: How does God’s unconditional love for us make us beautiful on the inside?
Christ in you: In what ways can you strive for inner beauty over outer beauty?
Prayer: Father, help me focus on my inner and eternal beauty far more than my outer, fading charm. Amen.
To Live is Christ 