The beauty industry is rapidly changing and growing, and Gen Zers and millennials are leading the way. According to Revieve, a beauty and wellness platform, “Gen Z is changing the face of beauty.” In their eyes, beauty is defined by “freedom of individuality, authenticity, and diversity.” It’s about being yourself but also about being your best self.
Gen Zers seek brands that support their values and complement their identity, so they look to the wellspring of all wisdom—YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram.
This fount provides a never-ending supply of make-up tutorials, beauty hacks, and product reviews. According to a 2023 survey, millennials spend an average of $2,670 per year on beauty products, followed by Gen Zers at $2,048; and 64–67 percent say it’s because of social media’s influence.
As a millennial, I’m aware of this influence, yet I still willingly give in. When I don’t like what I see in the mirror, a voice whispers, “We can change that.” An article here. A TikTok tutorial there. Another order on Amazon. But in the end, I’m left feeling empty. And the pattern repeats.
Our longing for “authentic” beauty drives us to a cacophony of voices that promise solutions but lead to dissatisfaction. Trends change. Fads fade. Anything “authentic” is just another counterfeit.
Then where are we to look?
Look to Christ’s Beauty
What we find in God’s Word turns our culture’s definition of beauty upside down through the life and death of God’s Son. We were designed to treasure beauty; we just look for it in the wrong places. Here are four reasons we’re to look to Jesus, not social media, to satisfy our desire for authentic beauty.
We were designed to treasure beauty; we just look for it in the wrong places.
1. Jesus is the radiance of God’s glory.
When Moses asked to see God’s glory, God told him no one could see his face and live (Ex. 33:20). But he’d be willing to show Moses his back. As he passed by Moses, God spoke these words:
The LORD, the LORD, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation. (34:6–7)
When Moses came down from the mountain, his face was shining. To see God’s glory, to gaze on his beauty, is to know his character and be in his presence. This is why David says his one request is to gaze on the beauty of the Lord (Ps. 27:4). He knows God as the merciful and majestic King over all creation and desires to behold him by worshiping him in the temple.
Some caught glimpses of his glory, but no one had ever seen God (John 1:18)—until Jesus came. In the person of Jesus Christ, we see the “radiance of the glory of God” (Heb. 1:3). So the Bible’s description of Jesus’s appearance may shock us.
2. Jesus laid aside his beauty.
Many men and women in Scripture were described as attractive. Sarah (Gen. 12:11), Rebekah (24:16), Rachel (29:17), Esther (Est. 2:7), and Tamar (2 Sam. 13:1) were all described as beautiful in appearance. Joseph “was handsome in form and appearance” (Gen. 39:6), and David “was ruddy and had beautiful eyes and was handsome” (1 Sam. 16:12). But Jesus wasn’t described this way. Instead, in Isaiah we read that “he had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him” (53:2).
The Savior of the world came as someone who wasn’t considered beautiful or worthy of our attention. If we’d been there, we wouldn’t have been drawn to him. If he’d been on social media, we wouldn’t have followed him. He wouldn’t have even come close to our standard of beauty.
So we must ask ourselves, Why are we clinging to something that Jesus willingly laid aside?
Isaiah 53:2 is one of the few places in the Bible that speak of Jesus’s appearance. Another comes a few verses before and is even more jarring.
3. Jesus took on our ugliness.
Not only did Jesus have no beauty that we should desire him, but he suffered to the point of being unrecognizable—a mass of wounded flesh so marred he didn’t look human anymore: “His appearance was so marred, beyond human semblance, and his form beyond that of the children of mankind” (52:14).
As he hung on the cross, bloody and naked, Jesus took our ugliness on himself. He bore our sin, which is described in Scripture as a heavy burden and as open sores that stink and fester (Ps. 38:4–5; Isa. 1:6). God’s wrath poured out on his Son, treating him as if he had committed every one of our hideous deeds. This horrific sight accomplished our salvation, the greatest display of love the world has ever seen.
So, Christian, hear this: when God looks at you, he no longer sees the ugliness of your sin—he sees the beauty of his Son.
Look at Jesus, the One who bore your sin that you’d be washed clean and clothed in his splendor. Look on his glory in an unflinching gaze and don’t ever take your eyes off him. And tell others about him, for those who do have beautiful feet (Rom. 10:15).
4. Jesus received a glorified body.
The good news is that Jesus didn’t stay up on that cross. He rose, receiving a glorified body, the firstfruits of the resurrection (1 Cor. 15:20). The resurrection points to the importance of our bodies. Gnosticism claims the body is bad, but Scripture says our bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit (6:19). We glorify God by taking care of our bodies, but we can go too far if we seek to glorify them now rather than waiting for God to do this in eternity.
One day, we’ll receive glorified bodies and be presented without spot or wrinkle (15:5–53; Eph. 5:27). But even better than this, we’ll gaze on our beautiful Savior.
Reflect Christ’s Beauty
Until then, how will we make ourselves ready? Will we chase a fading beauty? Will we spend our time and money seeking our glory? Or will we pursue the authentic and imperishable beauty of Christlikeness, pointing others to the beauty of the gospel of Jesus Christ for his glory?
When God looks at you, he no longer sees the ugliness of your sin—he sees the beauty of his Son.
When you’re getting ready in the morning, before you go to your closet or open your cosmetics drawer, consider what qualities you want to put on (Col. 3:12–24). What do you want people to see when you leave the house: you or Christ? Rather than spending all of your time in front of the mirror, spend time in God’s Word reflecting on Christ’s beauty.
Before going on social media, ask yourself, Will this help me to behold Christ or make me more focused on myself? Rather than enviously scrolling through a friend’s Instagram photos, spend time with people who urge you to be more like Jesus.
Let’s be people who, instead of worrying about what we see in the mirror, are a mirror that reflects Christ’s beauty. Only in him can our desire for beauty be satisfied.