INNER
BEAUTY
ONE of my sons told me once about a pretty girl he met on his college campus. He said this girl was so beautiful that she could “stop traffic.” Well, he decided to mosey on up to her and find out who she was. He walked right up to her and said, “Hello, how are you?” and then gave her his name. The girl looked at him and said, “Whassup dog?” That threw my son for a loop. Her apparent beauty simply evaporated once she opened her mouth. God’s concern is that you are as good-looking on the inside as you seek to be through all of your efforts on the outside.507
[Character, Importance of; Spiritual Maturity]
1 Sam. 16:7
A GEODE is a hollow rock with a beautiful crystal inside. These are formed as water, high mineral water, keeps flowing through these hollow rocks. The minerals get stuck there, and the water continues to flow over it. As more minerals gather, it produces a beautiful crystal that you can buy in a jewelry store. In fact, the more water that flows, the more beautiful the crystal becomes. Now, the external covering begins to wear and weather overtime, but inside the crystal is getting prettier and prettier. This is like the woman where God continues to flow on her inside. She may be getting older, and the wrinkles may be starting to show up. She may have even picked up a few pounds. Things may not look like they used to look on the outside, because of the flow, but on the inside, she’s getting prettier all the time.508
[Character, Importance of; Women, Value of]
1 Sam. 16:7; Prov. 31:10–31
WOMEN take a lot of time and attention to make sure they look glorious. They are a lot like my wife. If I tell her we have to go somewhere at seven o’clock, at six o’clock she “goeth” before the mirror of her glory. She goes to work. She pulls out eye mascara, eyeliner, foundation, rollers, curlers, a hot iron, and stuff I can’t even pronounce. In one hour she is transformed before my very eyes.
We go to the car; the car is in the garage, so she doesn’t have to go outside first to mess up her glory. She can go straight to the car, and keep all her glory intact. The first thing she does is to pull out the visor to check the glory she just put on. When we get to the building we are traveling to, we go in and come to the elevator. Guess what? There’s a mirror in the elevator, to double-check her glory. When we arrive at our floor and get off the elevator, my wife will make a beeline for the powder room. Now, there is nothing wrong with a wife who seeks to be glorious. The Bible says that a woman is the glory of the man and I don’t mind my wife making me look good.
But God is looking for even more. He wants us to be glorious on the inside, not merely on the outside. Far too many women are elegant on the outside, but bargain basement on the inside, evil-spirited, evil attitude, disregarding, disrespectful.509
[Character, Importance of; Women, Value of]
1 Sam. 16:7; Prov. 31:10–31; 1 Cor. 11:7
WHEN most people think of Thanksgiving, they think of a turkey. But my first love isn’t the turkey. My first love is the stuffing inside the turkey. The dressing gets jam-packed inside the turkey. It is filled with its own herbs- and, spices and so takes on a flavor all its own. The dressing gets stuffed inside the turkey and put inside the oven. While both the turkey and the stuffing cook, the flavor of the stuffing slowly permeates the turkey, making it more flavorful than what it would have been on its own. The turkey becomes tastier because of the effect of what is on the inside.
While most of us are interested in the turkey, God is interested in the stuffing. He is interested in making the inside tasty and letting the internal flavor affect the outside.510
[Character, Importance of; Spiritual Maturity]
1 Sam. 16:7