Beauty and Pride

Ezekiel 28:17: "Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty."


In the context, Ezekiel was writing about the "King of Tyre." In reality, it is clear he was really writing about Satan at the time of his fall. This being spoken of as the anointed cherub that covereth, and having been in Eden, the garden of God (vs. 14, 13). Verse 15 says he was perfect in all his ways until iniquity was found in him. Clearly this was Satan.


What is to be the fate of this being, this angel gone wrong? Verses 17-19 reveal his destruction will be very public. He will be cast to the ground before kings, and fire shall devour him before all people. Verse 19 completes the picture: "All they that know thee among the people shall be astonished at thee, thou shalt be a terror, and never shalt thou be any more."


Why did this happen? Because he became full of pride because of his beauty and brightness. Now I am writing about pride and beauty. "Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty."


This post is specifically addressed to Christian women. God made the woman to be beautiful to the man. This beauty brings responsibility with it. When pride takes hold of a woman because of her beauty, her irresponsible misuse of it will, in the long run, destroy her and have a negative impact on others. Just as Satan's heart was "lifted up" in pride because of his beauty, so a woman's pride will cause disasterous missteps in her life: It will cause her to be inordinately vain, to dress seductively and incite lust in men, or throw her marriage away by committing adultery.


As far as inordinate vanity is concerned, there is a great movie which beautifully portrays it, called Sunset Boulevard. The main character is Norma Desmond, a has-ben movie star in her 50s who is so vain, she is delusional enough to believe Hollywood is clamoring for her to make another movie some 2o years after her last one. She thinks she is still as beautiful as she was all those years ago. Her delusions only lead to her destruction.




Pride also causes many women to dress in such a way as to incite lust in men and make them vulnerable to seduction. These women are so proud of their looks, they think men will fall all over them. They dress to seduce.




Proverbs 7 shows this well. Selected verses will tell the story: Verses 6 and 7: For at the window of my house I looked though the casement, and beheld among the simple ones, I discerned among the youths, a young man void of understanding. Vs 10-13: And, behold, there met him a woman with the attire of an harlot, and subtil of heart. (She is loud and stubborn; her feet abide not in her house: Now she is without, now in the streets, and lieth in wait at every corner.) So she caught him, and kissed him, and with an impudent face said unto him, Verse 18: Come, let us tale our fill of love until the morning: let us solace ourselves with loves. Verses 24-27: Hearken unto me, O ye children, and attend unto the words of my mouth. Let not thine heart decline to her ways, go not astray in her paths. For she hath cast down many wounded: yea, many strong men have been slain by her. Her house is the way to hell, going down to the chambers of death.




Apparently the woman is married (verse19), but even if she were single, fornication is still fornication, and for a woman to use her beauty to set up a man for sexual relations outside of marriage is irresponsible and just plain wrong! There are any number of serious consequenses to unmarried sex. Unwanted pregnancy, venerial disease, AIDS, a trouble marriage later, being injured or killed by a jealous boyfriend or husband, are just a few of the possibilites. All because pride abuses beauty.



To married Christian women, I repeat the 7th Commandment, Thou shalt not commit adultery (Exodus 20:14). Pride will cause you to think the grass is greener on the other side of the fence. No matter how flawed your husband is, chances are, your boyfriend willl be just as flawed, if not worse. Your beauty belongs to your husband, and no one else. God is capable of creating great misery into an adulterous couple' s relationship and our Father chastises his children. As Hebrews 13:4 says, Marriage is honorable in all, and the bed undefiled: but whoremongers and adulterers God will judge.



Having said that, here is the point. Women have no more right to pride because of their beauty than men because of their strength. Satan fell, in part because of pride in his appearance.



Christian women have two kiinds of beauty: that physical beauty common to women, and the beauty of the Holy Spirit radiating from within. With this beauty comes responsibility.


Look with me at Psalm 139:14-16: I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works, and that my soul knoweth right well. My substance was not hid from thee, when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Mine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them.


Keep in mind, you did not create you. Your physical beauty is a gift from God. You did not do any of it. So you have no right to pride, but must give glory to your Creator for it. As St. Paul said in I Corinthians 6: 19, What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? Not only created, but, as verse 20 says, Ye were bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's. Jesus Christ bought you. You are His.


God gave you the inner beauty. If you are in fact a Christian, The Holy Spirit radiates from within, adding a beauty that is far more important than the physical. It is also a gift from God. You did not bestow it on yourself So again, you have no right to pride, but must glorify the Lord for it. You must use what God has given you for his purposes. You must win souls for Him, and build up your brothers amd sisters in the faith. This is why God made you as you are - for His glory.


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