Put on a Happy Face

If you survived the dress issue then you should be ready for this one. If not, go back to your prayer closet and get ready for another fiery dart.

Why do women wear make-up? I asked several women that I know who do and their answers varied:

• They want to look good.
• They want to look beautiful.
• They want to look younger.
• They want to feel better about themselves.
• They find that it is just a part of their routine of getting dressed in the morning.
• They started when they were young and it has become a habit.
• They don't know.

None of these reasons are really very intelligent in my opinion except maybe the last one. At least this person was honest with herself. Four of these "excuses" are examples of women with poor self-esteem. The other two are just stuck in a rut.

First let me give you my experience with make-up so you will understand my abhorrence for the stuff. Let me make it perfectly clear that it has NOTHING to do with horribly cruel tests carried out on poor innocent little bunny rabbits.

For many years I was a tap dancer and in a lot of different shows and performances. I had to wear stage make-up, grease paint and pancake make-up, the whole ball of wax if you will, depending upon which show I was in.

Now stage make-up is much different from street make-up, what the average lady wears. Our facial features had to clearly be seen from the last row of the theater. Our make-up was heavy and exaggerated. If you have ever seen a cast member of the musical "CATS" up close in make-up you will understand what I mean. With apologies to the ladies of the evening I looked like a cheap hooker. It was so unnatural looking and my appearance so appalled me that I could not bring myself to wear regular make-up.

The point I am trying to make is this. I was painted up to look like a character. I did not feel like myself anymore, was not myself and I, thank God, did not look like myself. I looked like someone else, someone I did not know. That experience has never left me and I truly thank God for teaching me that lesson.

Make-up "makes" you look like someone you are not. What do you dislike about your appearance so much that makes you feel compelled to altar it?

I asked several men what they think about women who wear make-up? Of those that had an opinion, several said they think women who wear make-up are insecure, the more make-up the more insecure and vice versa. They believe these women are hiding behind a false image.

Now that started me thinking. If you know Jesus as your personal Saviour, what do you have to be insecure about? The Bible says 2 Corinthians 5:17, "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new."

The old things that are passed away are the things of the world. Make-up should be one of those things. The world tells us that beauty comes in bottles, jars, tubes and compacts. God tells us that our beauty comes from Jesus Christ dwelling within us. (Galatians 2:20 I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.)

Paul tells us in Romans 13:12, "The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light." The things of darkness (eye SHADOW perhaps?!?) are the things of the flesh and this world. The armour of light refers to the things of the Spirit and of God.

Paul also says in Ephesians 4:24 to ". put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness." A few chapters later in Ephesians 6:11 he says to "Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil." Finally in Colossians 3:12-14 he says to "Put on . bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering; . And above all these things put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness."

Nowhere in the Scriptures does it tell us we need to put on make-up. Of course these verses were written by a MAN, and by Paul of all men, and we all know that Paul HATED women. He's the guy who wrote those horrible things about women obeying their husbands and submitting to their authority. He's the whole reason the women's lib movement started. (Insert sarcastic looking smiley face here.)

Did you know that there are some poor, downtrodden(???), oppressed(???), "REBELLIOUS" (bingo!!!) women out there who actually believe this?

My Bible says that, "All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works." (2 Timothy 3:16-17)

(2 Peter 1:20-21) Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.

Keep this in mind: if you are having a hard time accepting what the Scriptures teach on issues such as dress, hair, submission, and standards, then your "beef" isn't with Paul or anyone else, it is with God. Every head bowed, every eye closed!!!

Now back to the topic. Isn't using make-up the ultimate in vanity? How long does it take you "to put on your face" each morning? Have you ever stopped to consider how much time you spend in front of a mirror? What about how much money you spend on something you wash down the drain every night?

Make-up is an expensive habit. That's right, a habit, like an addiction. Once you start to wear make-up, even the least little bit, you will seldom if ever go back to your natural look. Why? Because you won't like what you see anymore. You will be sold on the image of what you have become. How sad that you cannot be thankful for the way that God made you. How misguided you are to think that you can improve on the Master Designer's original creation.

The reason I am against make-up is that the vast majority of women do not understand the word "moderation" when it comes to applying or using make-up. I am very much opposed to those women who "re-design" their faces with the aid of make-up. Eyebrows should not be located on your forehead. Trust me, God put them in the right place, there is no need to move them.

Don't base a relationship on looks.

If you are dating a man and he asks, or worse, tells you to wear make-up, or horror of horrors actually buys it for you, then he is telling you that he is not satisfied with what you look like. Don't believe that old line about him liking you for your mind. He is looking for an "image". He is not interested in your spirit or your soul, just your body, as long as it looks the way he wants it to look.

If you find yourself in this situation, before it is too late and you marry him, tell him to find someone that looks like that "image" naturally. When your make-up comes off he will not be pleased with what he sees and he will be tempted to look elsewhere anyway. This kind of guy is not marriage material so don't look so forlorn. Count your blessings that you didn't marry the bozo. (Bozo wore make-up too by the way.)

As you already have read, my husband and I were living on separate continents when we started corresponding. After almost a year of courting this way we finally met in person. But some time before this he had already decided that he was going to ask me to marry him. Up until a month before he came back to the states he never knew what I looked like. All attempts to get a picture to him over those months failed for one reason or another, thank God! A woman at our church asked him how he could decide to marry someone who he had never seen. He told her, "I didn't need a picture of her face, I had a picture of what was in her heart." That is probably the greatest compliment that my husband could ever pay me.

(Proverbs 11:16) - "A gracious woman retaineth honour: and strong men retain riches."

(Proverbs 31:30) - "Favour is deceitful, and beauty is vain: but a woman that feareth the LORD, she shall be praised."

The outward appearance fades and so does beauty. What then is left of the relationship when it does? Time takes its toll on our bodies and shows most clearly on our faces. If relationships are based on looks disappointments will only increase over the years. But if relationships are based on the heart, the character, the godly qualities a person possesses then a few more wrinkles and a few less hairs won't make a difference in your love for each other.

Do not try to get or keep a man using make-up as your secret weapon. The Bible calls this kind of behavior whorish. Read Ezekiel 23:36-49.

(Proverbs 6:25-26) - "Lust not after her beauty in thine heart; neither let her take thee with her eyelids. For by means of a whorish woman a man is brought to a piece of bread: and the adulteress will hunt for the precious life."

Which is more important to you in a relationship? What is more important to him? What you put on the outside, which is temporary, and man-made? Or, as a child of God, what is in the heart, which is eternal and re-made by God?

There is a special beauty that only God can give to a woman. It is manifested on the outside, in one who truly loves the Lord with all her heart, soul and mind (Matthew 22:37-38). There will be a radiance on her face that no amount of make-up can replace for it cannot be bought and created. It is an inner beauty that will shine through and make even the homeliest of God's creatures beautiful. It is God's gift to the woman who gives God first place in her life.

(1 Samuel 16:7) - "But the LORD said unto Samuel, Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him: for the LORD seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart."

A true Proverbs 31 woman will have a beauty all her own no matter what her physical appearance may look like.

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