What is beautiful in God's eyes?

Definitions of beauty and ugliness are highly individualistic. What is beautiful to one person is often ugly to another, and vice versa. If something is regarded as beautiful by a person, it must fulfill his definition and concept of beauty. Regardless of other's opinions, it is ugly if it does not fit his concept of beauty. The fact that beauty is an individual concept is understood clearly by all. However, many have not understood that God's concept of beauty also is His own. No person defines for God His concept of beauty. If a person is beautiful to God, he fits God's concept of beauty.

God does not define beauty by using the criteria people commonly use.  God never uses physical, outward appearance to determine beauty. When the prophet Samuel examined Jesse's sons in search of the next king of Israel, he was much impressed with Eliab's appearance.  God declared to Samuel, "Look not at his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have rejected him: for God seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but Jehovah looketh on the heart" (I Samuel 16:7). Nothing in a person's outward appearance impresses God. God looks upon the inner beauty of the heart. God never uses the origin or culture of a person as a criteria of beauty. People of one culture seldom see beauty in people of another distinctively different culture. Cultural preferences and prejudices strongly influence definitions of beauty. This cultural prejudice blinded the Apostles to Jesus' desire to preach the gospel to all peoples. Only a divine revelation could convince Peter to enter a Gentile's house and preach the gospel to him (Acts 10). It took an angel to get Peter the Jew and Cornelius the Gentile together. Only a divine sign convinced the Jewish witnesses that Gentiles unquestionably had the right to be baptized. When Peter said, "Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons..." (Acts 10:34), He was saying, "At last, I understand." Peter realized that God and Christ were unconcerned about a person's origin or culture.

God gladly accepted any person who reverenced Him and worked righteousness. God's concept of beauty is distinctively different because it ignores cultural preferences and prejudices. Reverence and righteous living determine spiritual beauty. God never determines beauty by social rank or life circumstances. Human opinions are strongly influenced by a person's living address, occupation, and social role. When a person speaks of having met some "beautiful people," rarely will those people be persons who are struggling to survive, persons who make their living by menial jobs, or persons who come from "backward" areas. In contrast, God never notices those things when He considers beauty in people (Galatians 3:26-28).

All who have faith and are in Christ Jesus are God's children. All who have been baptized into Christ are in Christ. Regardless of social rank or life circumstances, everyone enters Christ precisely in the same manner, by baptism (1 Peter 3:21). The slave and the aristocrat, the rich and the poor, and all of every race enter Jesus in the same manner. Each by the same means becomes a child of God of equal value to God.  There are no chosen people, no privileged Jews and inferior Gentiles; no privileged Americans and inferior foreigners; no slave and free citizen; no primitive third world people and sophisticated Americans; no privileged male and inferior female.  God will as readily see beauty in a slave as in an aristocrat, in a woman as in a man.

What is beautiful in God's eyes? Noting the qualities God has cherished in the lives of other people is one way to determine Gods' concept of beauty. Noah's implicit trust in God led him to construct a mammoth boat, miles away from water.

Abraham trusted God's promise so implicitly that he would have sacrificed his son of promise without hesitation. Moses yielded total control of his life to God and became the man of meekness. David committed his whole being to doing the will of God. No consequence or shameful treatment could keep Daniel from reverencing his God. People like Peter, Paul, Barnabas, and Timothy were ruled by God in every consideration and decision. They were totally preoccupied with Jesus' will as they shared the gospel with all. In all these qualities God saw great beauty. While all these people were beautiful to God, virtually nothing is known about their physical appearance. It was not their physique or stateliness but their faith and service that made them beautiful to God. The same was true of God's beautiful women: Rahab, Hannah, Ruth, Deborah, and Mary Magdalene. Those noted for physical beauty were often great spiritual disappointments.  Physically beautiful Sarah did not have the faith of Abraham. Saul was handsome, but he was not the godly king God wanted. 

What is ugly to God? There is an ugly in God's sight. Do Judas, Ananias, and Sapphira produce a feeling of beauty or ugliness? Many in every age have been ugly in God's sight. Arrogance, deceit, sacrificing the innocent, scheming for wicked purposes, running to trouble, perjury, and creating division are ugly to God (Proverbs 6:16-19). Other ugly people include those who live for pleasure, the selfish, the faithless, those who indulge their passions, those who love money, and those who discourage the righteous. Those who are controlled by sin are ugly in God's sight. How about you dear reader? Are you beautiful spiritually? Do you have a heart for God?