What is beauty of the heart?

Let your beauty not be external—the braiding of hair and wearing of gold jewelry or fine clothes—but the inner person of the heart, the lasting beauty of a gentle and tranquil spirit, which is precious in God’s sight (1 Peter 3:3–4 NET)

Peter addresses the women in the verse above but the timeless truth applies to everyone, women and men. First, Peter began with external beauty and focused on the beauty not of the body per se but of the clothing and jewelry women typically use to beautify themselves. A person can be beautiful in body or clothing, including make-up! However, the beauty God is concerned about is not the person’s external beauty but the beauty of the “inner person of the heart”.

Just as we can put on clothes on our physical body to beautify ourselves externally, we can also put on “clothes” on our hearts to be beautiful. These clothes of the heart, as expected, are not material or physical clothes. Peter gives us two clothes or pieces of jewelry you can wear that will make you really beautiful before God. They are gentleness and quietness or tranquility of heart( that is, a heart that is at peace and at rest). Did you notice that gentleness and peace are two of the fruit of the Spirit mentioned in Galatians 5: 22-23?

The fruit of the Spirit such as love, joy, peace, patience, are pieces of jewelry or fine clothes we can put on our hearts. The Lord is asking us to adorn ourselves with real beauty, the beauty of the heart.

MEDITATE

What does Peter mean when he says a gentle and tranquil spirit is precious in God’s sight? What does that tell you about the things God values the most?

APPLY THE WORD

Are you beautiful in God’s sight? Now you know what God calls true beauty! Some believers are so beautiful in heart but might not even be in the choir, pulpit, or prophesying. This is why God says the first shall be last and the last first because what He looks for is not what we typically elevate. Start putting on beautiful clothes on your heart!