The Most Beautiful Woman in the World

In 2019, cosmetic surgeons announced that supermodel Bella Hadid was the most beautiful woman in the world. She scored 94.35 percent on the Golden Ratio test, a calculation that determines which woman is mathematically closest to physical perfection. It’s based on a measurement of the size and position of the eyes, eyebrows, nose, lips, chin, and jaw. That’s one way to measure beauty, but there are many other ways that would come up with different answers.

What is true beauty, and how do we get it? There’s only one way to answer that question definitively, and that’s by asking God, the only one who is perfectly beautiful and who therefore sets the standard for beauty. In Proverbs 11:22, he tells us who is really ugly and therefore who is truly beautiful.

Be Repulsed by True Ugliness (11:22)

Once upon a time, Mr. Pig was digging around in the dirt with his snout, when he came across a gold ring. Fed up with his ugly image, he saw an opportunity to rebrand himself. Somehow he managed to pierce his nose with the ring and appeared in the pigsty the next morning sporting his new look.

He lived on a family farm that was open to visitors, and soon kids appeared. As usual, they started laughing at the filthy pigs and making vomiting noises. When they spotted the pig with the gold nose ring, they became quiet. The rebranded pig waited patiently for their applause and appreciation. Instead, the kids laughed louder than ever and “vomited” more violently than ever. The “beautiful pig” was the most bizarre and ludicrous animal they’d ever seen.

Solomon wants us to feel how horrifyingly ugly and grotesquely absurd this shocking combination is: “Like a gold ring in a pig’s snout is a beautiful woman without discretion” (11:22). Discretion is moral or spiritual taste, the wisdom to know the difference between right and wrong. External beauty without internal beauty, and fashion sense without spiritual sense, are as ugly and absurd to God as a pig with a gold nose ring.

If appearance is your focus, then God will be out of focus.

I don’t want to be ugly. How can I be beautiful?

Admire True Beauty (11:22)

Solomon does not complete the picture. He paints one side of it graphically and vividly, but he leaves us to paint the opposite side ourselves. He throws a provocative image out there and says, “You now understand ugliness, so work out what beauty is yourself.” He’s posing a question to us: “If that’s not true beauty, then what is? If that’s repulsive, then what’s attractive?”

A beautiful person is someone with moral and spiritual discernment, insight, and character. Spiritual wisdom is the greatest beauty treatment ever. It can transform the ugliest person in the world into the most beautiful person in the world. So how do I get it, and what does it look like?

God not only defines beauty but he also demonstrates it. We see God’s glorious beauty most stunningly in Jesus. He had perfect moral character and perfect spiritual wisdom. Spend time being stunned by his beauty, and it will transform you (2 Cor. 3:18).

True beauty isn’t skin-deep; it’s soul-deep.

Changing Our Story with God’s Story

God has provided a beauty shop in his church and has gifted us the beauty kit of the Bible, prayer, and fellowship. Every time we use these tools, we’re taking another step toward the Christlike beauty that attracts God, adorns the gospel, and lasts forever. Pray, “Let the favor [lit., “beauty”] of the Lord our God be upon us” (Ps. 90:17), and watch God give you sensitive and accurate moral taste buds, insight into people’s character and motives, and wisdom that people envy and ask for.

Summary: What is true beauty, and how do we get it? Praise and pursue God’s beauty in Jesus.

Question: What beauty treatment will you use today?

Prayer: Beautiful Jesus, I confess my ugliness and pray that you would share your beauty with me so that others can see your beauty.