Beauty Is Only Skin Deep

You don’t get to the point where you’re almost Miss USA by being ugly.  It’s not based on your character or how fun you are to be with that you find yourself named Miss California.

There’s only one reason that these types of competition feature swimsuits, formal wear and offer money for cosmetic surgery and that has nothing to do with what’s on the inside.

And what is on the inside is what is most important.

The Power of a Pretty Face

It’s true—from birth to old age, people react differently to a pretty face and figure.  That’s why a majority of the people that present or act on television are attractive people that take a lot of time working on their physical appearance.  People follow and like to look at pretty people.

When Carrie Prejean, the former Miss California, answered Perez Hilton’s question about same-sex marriage stating that she was raised to believe marriage was between a man and a woman she set herself up as someone that could be followed because the issue is in the forefront of a lot of conversation this nation is having right now.

When she lost the Miss USA pageant and her title of Miss California, she became an even more sympathetic figure.  People began to associate themselves with her, and because of her looks combined to her television appearances, she became someone that people would want to rally around.

But what a person looks like on the inside does not always equate to what a person looks like on the outside.

Work on the Inside

This is exactly what is written in the Gospels in the Bible when it comes to the idea of modesty.  Peter emphasizes that modesty is about more than simply wearing clothing that covers the skin.  Modesty is about letting the inner person show rather than the outer person.

In today’s society, it’s all about the outer person.  It’s the color of their skin, whether they’re male or female, and how fit they are.  We are obsessed with images, and we’re being conditioned to project values on people that they may not share.

Miss Prejean has shown, through some of the things that she has done, that she goes with the flow of what’s going on.  And to some degree, who can blame her?  I mean, for a Christian with morals, she could have said on the stage that day that God said that marriage was between a man and a woman, not her family.  She could have not enrolled in the pageant at all, and really made a difference serving people in her community.

Live as an Example

I’m sure that Miss Prejean did not plan on becoming a figure in the Defense of Marriage movement.  I’m sure that as she was making the videos for her boyfriend, and having the modeling photos taken she wasn’t thinking that someday she’s be held to the standard of purity and standing for marriage.  She may have figured that she could have won Miss USA, but that secular title would not demand of her the same as the one she tried to assume.

But that should be a reminder to you and I.  Live is lived in the mundane.  It’s faithfulness every day to do what we know that is right so that we will not disqualify ourselves for future service.

I’m sure Miss Prejean wishes that these things from the past were not there—for whatever the motive—but the question for us is: what are we doing today that we would not want out?  Is what people see on the outside only skin deep, or is their conviction behind it?