Be Careful of Beauty

Proverbs 6:25a                                               Be Careful of Beauty

“Do not lust in your heart after her beauty…” (NIV).

 

Forgive me for taking this verse out of context.  It is in a section of Proverbs warning against adultery, but I would like to apply it to the danger of looking only at the beauty of anything.  I have a fascination for the fighter aircraft of World War II, but I can’t let my enjoyment of them make me forget their purpose—to shoot down enemy aircraft and kill men.  The P51 Mustang is one of the most effective fighter aircraft of WW II, and it has the distinction of having beauty in its functionality.  But it is a machine made to kill, so I have to look beyond the beauty of the airplane whenever I see one.

There are many things in life that have the appearance of great beauty, and many of them are used to glorify God.  But there are also things of apparent great beauty that are used by satan to draw us away from God, and because of that they can’t be called beautiful no matter the appeal to the eye or ear or taste.  I’ll be short and sweet today—Before you become attached to something with a beautiful appearance, be sure you know its purpose.

In God’s creation, there are millions of things of great beauty, and they should be the things that draw our attention because their purpose is to draw us, beckon us to Him.  To God be the glory!