Our society idolizes the so-called “beautiful people”—popular entertainers and models whose youthful faces dominate the pages of the magazines at the supermarket checkout. But such attractiveness has nothing to do with the kind of beauty that delights the heart of God.

We tend to think of beauty in terms of something lovely that evokes a feeling of pleasure within us. But God wants us to place more value on what’s in a person’s heart than we do on superficial things (1 Pet. 3:3-4).

As William Dyrness explains, something is lovely by God’s standards “if it displays the integrity that characterizes creation and that in turn reflects God’s own righteousness.” In other words, a truly beautiful person is one who serves God’s purposes.

Regardless of our outward appearance, then, all of us can be beautiful. By God’s transforming grace, we can have the beauty of holiness and integrity that mirrors the character of His Son. As we devote ourselves wholeheartedly to the fulfillment of the Lord’s purposes in our lives, we will develop the kind of God-honoring beauty that does not fade (Prov. 31:30). That’s the only way to become one of the truly beautiful people.