A familiar saying is, “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.” It’s a great saying because beauty can only be defined individually. What’s good looking to one can be ugly to another, and vice versa.

Half of what I’ve just said can be applied to God; that is, like all of us, He too defines in His own way what is beautiful. The other half, though, shouldn’t be applied to Him—the notion that He is wrong; that His idea of beauty is ugly. After all, He is perfect in knowledge. His definition of “anything” is an objective, true, and ultimate standard of reality.

That’s why the Holy Spirit inspired the apostle Peter to write the following to women. He says, “Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as braided hair and the wearing of gold jewelry and fine clothes. Instead, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight. For this is the way the holy women of the past who put their hope in God used to make themselves beautiful” (1 Peter 3:3-5).

By golly, God knows what He’s talking about. Listen, I’ve nothing against women wearing makeup, jewelry, and fabulous clothing. When they do, they really know how to accent their features, and man-oh-man do they look good. But the most beautiful women I’ve run across were those without makeup and earrings, and who wore modest clothing. That allowed for me to not be distracted by or deluded by focusing on the world’s ideal of beauty. Instead, I was able to clearly see and feel the attractiveness of the clean and pure inner light that shown forth and enveloped those women, rendering them as dazzlingly gorgeous in appearance, speech and conduct.

By the way, Peter’s statement isn’t forbidding the wearing of nice clothes or hairstyles. He, instead, wants women to understand that God thinks of them as beautiful and calls them beautiful when they’re more concerned with wearing righteousness by faith. Peter’s statement is a spiritual principle; God’s standard of beauty that extends to men as well.

Take for example, the prophet Samuel’s erroneous criteria. During his search for the next king of Israel, he was affected and swayed to choose a man named Eliab. That decision was solely based on Eliab’s looks and stature. But God intervened and told Samuel, ”Do not look at his appearance or at the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for God sees not as man sees, for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” 1 Samuel 16: 7.

God is not impressed by our physical, outer looks. Beauty, to Him, is defined by an inner source: the mind of the heart.