The Power Of Beauty Series

from her beauty, Esther had all sorts of disadvantages. She was a

poor orphan in a foreign land, and part of a minority group.

Fortunately for her she had a relative who took her in when her

parents died. Mordecai was her cousin, but he adopted her as his

daughter. Here is a rare case of cousins becoming father and

daughter.

Her Hebrew name was Hadassah. That is not a name known to

us, but the largest Jewish organization of women in the world is

called Hadassah, and they support the Hadassah Hospital in

Jerusalem. Esther was her Persian name and this has become more

popular among Gentiles. Esther means star. Estelle and Stella come

from the same root. Take female beauty out of this book, and the

star is gone. This poor adopted orphan would never have been

heard of in history had she not been blest with beauty. Even with

her beauty would she have won the contest with all her competitors

had she not spent a year using all of the beauty aids available in her

day?

The Bible puts you in a real bind if you are dogmatically against

beauty aids, for they were part of the providential plan of God that

saved the Jewish race. Dr. William Stidger, one of the great

American preachers, and author of over forty books, comes on

strong in favor or beauty aids. He writes, "As far as I am

concerned.....there is something sacred in the everlasting passion

women have for making themselves more beautiful. I have no

sympathy with these reformers who find nothing more important to

do than harangue women for using rouge, powder, clothes, and

what have you, to make themselves more beautiful."

Certainly we can all agree, there is nothing spiritual or superior

about being unclean, unkempt, and unpresentable for public

viewing. All of us enjoy beauty, but like all good things, this too is so

easily perverted. Conrad Hilton, the multimillionaire owner of the

Hilton hotel's around the world, was once married to Zsa Zsa

Gabor. He discovered that with her, beauty was a full time affair.

She started at ten in the morning before her dressing table. He says

it was a ritual with bottles, jars, and pots, both large and small.

It could have been the rite of ancient Aztex temple. After lunch and

shopping it was back to the dressing table for more make-up, and

agonizing decisions on furs and jewelry. Hilton learned first hand

about the idolatry of beauty, and of how impossible it is to live with

a woman who is obsessed with vain-glory.

So what we have in the power of beauty is another paradoxical

power. It can drive you to the heights of virtue, or plunge you to the

depths of vice. It can lead to one praising God for this gift, or it can

lead to pride that competes with God. It has the power to produce

stories of victory, or stories of vanity. One of the reasons women are

so effective in taking the Gospel into all the world is there beauty.

Beauty attracts, and if the attracter points to God, her beauty is a

stepping stone into the kingdom of beauty, the kingdom of God.

Many have the testimony of the poet-

The might of one fair face sublimes my love,