A lady was applying face cream when her little girl asked, "What's that you're putting on, Mum?" "Moisturiser," she replied. "The sales lady said it would make me beautiful." With an honesty only children have, she replied, "Mum, I don't think it's working." There's nothing wrong with looking good, but there's much more to you than your clothes and your hairstyle. Plus, you can go broke fixing up the outside, because "what Mother Nature giveth, Father Time taketh away!" Ralph Waldo Emerson said, "To find beauty we must carry it with us."

It's a big mistake to focus on the outside and fail to appreciate the inner qualities God's given you. Solomon said, "Beauty is… [not lasting]" (Proverbs 31:30 AMP). When God made you He didn't just decorate the outside, He gave you "inner beauty, the gentle, gracious kind… God delights in." However, because Peter also talked about "fancy hair, gold jewelry… fine clothes" (1 Peter 3:3 NCV), a few well-intentioned people have used that to create a legalistic standard by which to measure and judge others. Does the Bible teach us to dress appropriately? Absolutely. Paul writes: "I… want women to dress modestly, with decency and propriety… appropriate for women who profess to worship God" (1 Timothy 2:9-10 NIV). But when you focus on the wrong area you get the wrong results. "Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart" (1 Samuel 16:7 NIV).

Don't allow what you see on TV or in the mirror to define your worth. Work instead to develop the kind of inner beauty God commends.