“Hey beautiful!” Oh, yah? Says who?
Every girl wants to be beautiful. The fact of the matter is that you are beautiful just the way you are! God created you exactly as He wants you to be.
Have you ever thought, “I’m ugly?” Many young ladies believe this lie. Our media culture tells girls that they need to be more attractive. (After all, look at all the highly advertised products out there specifically made to help women do so.) Young ladies may judge their appearance, comparing themselves to the super models in celebrity magazines, or pop stars on TV. When girls use this as a yardstick to determine beauty, they can believe they don’t “measure up.” So how do we “measure up”?
Psalm 139 tells us what God has to say about how we, girl or guy, were created. Verse 13 says, “For You created my innermost being, you knit me together in my mother’s womb.” This means that you were not an accident. The Lord Himself was at work even before you were born. It was Him that chose each and every cell that would complete you, His beautiful work of art. Verse 14 of Psalm 139 says, “I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made.” The Lord didn’t just throw together a mish-mash of blobbish “simple cells,” and call it cool. No! He very carefully chose each little bit of DNA, each tiny detail, and pieced each one together to create you. And in His eyes, you are a masterpiece.
You may be thinking, “Ok, but I still don’t like my hair color, my eye color, my big feet, my tiny nose, my ears that stick out…etc.” At first, the idea of being fearfully and wonderfully made may make you grimace. How can we apply such knowledge? After all, we’ve spent our whole lives judging ourselves by the world’s standards!
First, look at yourself in the mirror. Say Psalm 139:14 to yourself. It says “I will praise Thee.” So, praise Him! Thank Him for each little thing that you think is a defect. Thank Him especially for difficult things that you really don’t like, and for those things that you do like. These things that we see as blemishes, God sees as “marks of Ownership.” Stop trying to dress immodestly to attract attention to yourself, and don’t depend on makeup to change how you look.
You were created with a purpose. You were set apart to be God’s beloved princess. Stop trying to live up to media standards. No one can even come close to being perfect in the world’s eye. Start living by God’s standards instead. You are beautiful, and that’s the truth!
