Beautiful, Inside and Out

By: Jenny Young

“And he brought up Hadassah, that is, Esther, his uncle's daughter: for she had neither father nor mother, and the maid was fair and beautiful; whom Mordecai, when her father and mother were dead, took for his own daughter.” Esther 2:7

We all know the life of Esther, and what God used her for.  What a testimony and legacy Esther left behind for us to read about today.  Esther’s life was not an easy life to live.  Her parents were dead, she was being raised by her cousin, Mordecai, and she was living in a strange land.  Even when Esther was queen, she did not have an easy life, as her people were to be killed because of wicked Haman.  But God used her in such a miraculous way, that we would have to look at her life and say, “Wow, God.”  What an awesome God we serve, and what a servant Esther was.  

In Esther 2:7, God uses two words to describe Esther; and those two words are "fair" and "beautiful".  If we study those two words out, one will find that the word “fair” means beautiful.  Now, why would God say that Esther was beautiful and “beautiful?”  If we dig deeper and study the word “beautiful” in this verse, we will find that it means “joyful, kindness, or sweet”.  What was God trying to tell us about Esther?  He was trying to let us know that Esther was beautiful on the outside and the inside.  True beauty is more than skin deep, true beauty comes from the inside and works its way out.

Esther’s inward beauty was seen in many ways by her actions.  She was selfless in her desires, as she never asked for anything extra than what was given to her.  She was content with what she had.  She was kind to those around her.  Those that were in the palace with her loved her because she was kind and sweet to them.  How pleasant was the aroma when she left the room?  What a fragrance she left behind for others.  She chose to have compassion and to try and make a difference in the lives of others.  

Even though Esther had a rough life and a rough past she didn’t allow any of that to hinder who she was as a child of God.  She did not let her past hinder her present or her future.  Instead, she turned what happened to her for good instead of bad.  As the saying goes “when life throws you lemons, make lemonade.”  She truly made lemonade out of her life.  She didn’t let her hardship, and her past make her bitter.  Instead, she turned it into joyfulness and sweetness.  Could she have allowed herself to get bitter and mad and hateful?  She could, but she chose not to because she knew God could not use someone like that. 

She did not allow her past to stop her from doing something for God.

What about us today?  The Bible says that we are “fearfully and wonderful made” (Psalm 139:14).  This means that when God made us, He put a lot of thought into it.  Why would He do that?  Because He has a purpose for our lives.  He created us with a purpose in life.  Before salvation that purpose was to get saved.  After salvation, He has a plan for our life, and He created us just the way we are so that His plan can be fulfilled.  He took the time to make sure that we were created just right.  God did not just create us with no thought or no purpose.  God created us beautiful and with a purpose.

We are beautiful on the outside, but how are we on the inside? Having inward beauty is a choice that we must make as a Christian.  Do we have inward beauty, and if so, can our inward beauty be seen by others?  It can be done through our actions, our speech, and the way we live our lives.  Do we show off joyfulness, kindness, and sweetness?  If we are then our beauty is more than skin deep, it is beautiful on the inside as well.  We are to be different than the world, not trying to fit in with the world.  The world knows nothing about true joyfulness, kindness or sweetness.  Those attributes should come from us as second nature.

We say, we’ve had a rough life and a rough past.  So did Esther, but she didn’t let that stop her from having inward beauty. 

We can make excuses for not having inward beauty, but that will get us nowhere.  God has given us everything that we need to have inward beauty.  It is up to us to choose to have that inward beauty that God wants us to have. 

The Bible tells us to be different than the world (2 Corinthians 6:17 – “Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you,”).  Being different is being joyful, kind and sweet.  

God can help us have inward beauty.  He’s given us the Holy Spirit to live inside of us, and He will help us and guide us towards inward beauty.  Galatians 5:22-23 says, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.”  We can have and should have inward beauty.  There is nothing lacking and no excuse for us to not have inward beauty.  If we exercise the fruit of the Spirit, we can have inward beauty.

How is our beauty?  Do we see ourselves as beautiful on the inside and outside?  When we leave a room, do we leave a fragrance of joyfulness, sweetness and kindness?  It’s not always easy, but it is something that we as a Christian should strive to achieve in our lives.  Inward beauty can be the difference maker in the life of those around us that are not saved.  How thick is our beauty?  Is it only skin deep, or does it go further?  I pray that our beauty is more than skin deep.