Outer vs. Inner Beauty: Our focus and God's focus

Last week, I visited the Bowes museum with my cousin and her mom while I was visiting them near Durham in the UK. The Bowes museum is an art museum which was created  by John and Josephine Bowes. 

In touring the museum, I was struck by the beauty of the textiles made for leaders within the church at the time. The intricacy and time that went into making these items is amazing! A lot of money was spent on elaberate pieces of clothing which were worn to show status and positional power as head of the church. Below, I have a few photos of the signs and some of the clothing.

As I was viewing and appreciating the talent and time that went into making these pieces, I also thought if only these leaders, current leaders and myself included here, spent as much dedication and time on our inner thoughts and heart attitudes. Perhaps some of these church leaders were in a right relationship with God. Church history is full of stories of evil and corrupt leaders. 

Even in the time of Christ, many of the pharisees and saducees were corrupt and took great care of their outward appearance. 

"Woe to you, scribes and pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and the plate, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. You blind pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and the plate, that the outside also may be clean. 

Woe to you, scribes and pharisees, hyprocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people's bones and all uncleanness. So you also outwardly appear righteous to others, but within you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness."  Matthew 23:25-28

We can get so focused on outward beauty that it causes us to ignore or not give enough attention to what's going on inside. It is not wrong to create beautiful textiles and wanting to look nice. We tend to look at the outer appearance while God looks at the heart. In 1 Samuel 16:7, the Lord told Samuel, "Do not look on his appearance (Jesse's son, Eliab) or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart."

Then in 1 Peter 3:3-4, Peter instructs women to "not let your adorning be external - the braiding of hair and the putting on of gold jewelry, or the clothing you wear - but let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God's sight is very precious." 

Am I more focused on being beautiful on the inside - the beauty that lasts forever? Or am I giving more focus on my outward beauty? Perhaps this is something to ponder as we move forward into a new year where adveritsements about diet, exercise and new makeovers are advertised everywhere! What steps am I taking to create inner beauty? Spending more time in God's Word? Praying for friends, family, students, supporters? Looking for ways to serve my students, friends and community like bringing a meal to a family with a newborn (the dad got up super early to bring me to the airport last week!).