Inner Beauty

As I was reading 1 Kings 6, I realized that so much of the inner beauty of the temple built by Solomon would be seen by only a handful of people. The elaborate carvings, cedar walls plated with gold, and cherubim statues were not built for show, but for God:

It happened that when the priests came from the holy place, the cloud filled the house of the LORD, so that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud, for the glory of the LORD filled the house of the LORD (1 Kings 8:10-11, NASB)

It reminded me that our inner beauty is also not seen. We too are building a temple for God within us. Paul reminded us in 1 Corinthians 6:19, “Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own?” He also wrote in Ephesians 2:19-22 that we are part of “a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit (21-22).”

As we grow in our faith in God, we are constructing an inner beauty inside of us that is not readily visible to those around us. Yet as we live out our faith, that inner beauty becomes evident. As we submit to the Spirit of God within us, it directs our behavior and actions. People can begin to see that inner beauty reflected in who we are.

“For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them. – Ephesians 2:10, NASB