How do I Look?

Insecurities. We all have them. It’s only human to nitpick at our appearance. We all have something about ourselves that we wish we could change. If you don’t now, at some point you did. It’s important to know that no one thinks they’re perfect. Whoever you aspire to look like, aspires to look like someone else (or maybe even you). Insecurities are like weeds. You need to nip them in the bud before they grow and overcome your mind. You must deal with it before you are fully convinced that you are not fearfully and wonderfully made. But how can we do that?

Whenever I felt insecure about how I looked, I thought about what I could do to change it. Work out a bit more, skip breakfast. I would obsess over futile things that are out of my control. I wanted to reach a standard of beauty that is quite frankly, unattainable (without the help of face tune and photoshop).

An analogy that helped me understand how harmful this kind of thinking is says this: imagine you create a sculpture. Very proud of your work, you place it on display for all to see. But slowly, the sculpture falls apart. Crumbling right before your eyes. Your very own work, Wouldn’t you be upset? Now imagine how sad God feels when He sees his very own beautiful creation crumble. Solely because of a lie that the enemy has planted in your head saying: “You're not beautiful.”

Not feeling beautiful comes with so many other emotions. Feeling unapproachable, unlovable and even unworthy. Being insecure led me to vanity. In this time, I needed to remember that my relationship with God is not based upon my feelings, those are fickle. But it is grounded on faith. It is built on love. It is founded on the fear of the LORD. I needed to turn my eyes from earthly things, like my appearance, and focus on things above because meditating on things of no substance and of futile nature, is the true definition of vanity. 1 Peter 3:3-4 (NIV) puts it like this: “Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as elaborate hairstyles and the wearing of gold jewelry or fine clothes. Rather, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight.”

Through reading the Bible, I’ve learnt what true beauty is. From people like Ruth and Queen Esther, selfless and kind people. To me, that is true beauty. And most importantly, it is beautiful to God. If you think about it, there’s not much you can change about your appearance. However, through earnestness and prayer, I was able to change my heart that, at the time, was not the prettiest. I read my Bible daily, talked to the LORD and listened to praise music every single day. This routine drastically changed my heart into a beautiful one. One that tries harder to be kind and aims to make God proud.

Remember that how you look doesn’t matter. It is the contents of your heart that matter most to Him. Work on being kind and loving, and then you can confidently say that you are beautiful!