Beauty, Biltmore, and Biblical Living
By: Tim Woods, M.Min. | July 20, 2025
Biltmore
My wife and I recently celebrated our 30th wedding anniversary with a trip to the Biltmore Estate. We’ve always loved the area, and the house itself is truly stunning. The gardens and surrounding landscape are just as breathtaking and peaceful.
As we walked through the house, though, my wife made an observation that stayed with me. She said, “This is absolutely beautiful; however, it feels empty and dead.” She was right. Despite its grandeur, the house felt lifeless—more like a museum than a home. There was a sense of sadness in the air, a feeling that something was missing.
Every detail of the estate—from the architecture to the vineyards—reflects excellence and vision. George Vanderbilt intended it to be a place of hospitality and wonder, a place where people would come to enjoy themselves. And in that sense, even over a century after his passing in 1914, he’s succeeded. People still visit, still admire what he created.
Yet, while the estate fulfills its purpose, it does so without the warmth of love and life.
True Beauty
We also see a similar idea in Matthew 23:25-28 (NKJV), where Jesus rebukes the Pharisees for focusing on appearances rather than what truly matters. They were meticulous about how they looked to others—clean and polished on the outside—yet inwardly, they were empty and full of hypocrisy. Jesus compares them to whitewashed tombs: beautiful on the outside but full of death within.
“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you cleanse the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of extortion and self-indulgence. 26 Blind Pharisee, first cleanse the inside of the cup and dish, that the outside of them may be clean also.
27Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness. 28 Even so, you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.”
In many ways, the Biltmore Estate echoed that feeling. Though stunning, it lacked the warmth of life inside. Beauty and perfection on the outside don’t always reflect what’s within.
Biblical Living
The Pharisees were deeply concerned with how people perceived them. Their emphasis was also on legalism and worldly honor. They wanted to be seen as the most devout and righteous among the Jews. The law didn’t draw them closer to God; they used the law as a performance to elevate their own righteousness. Despite their outward appearances, their hearts were disgusting. Beneath their attractive exteriors were rotting corpses. Even though they seemed beautiful, it was what was on the inside that was unclean and full of death.
Outwardly, they would use their rituals and self-righteous practices to appear pure before the people of Israel. They would seem to keep all the commands of Scripture with their added rules and regulations. Inwardly, they were nothing more than actors. Their hearts were unlawful and unchanged.
We can act in the same manner as the Pharisees. We want to modify God’s requirements and will for our lives. Without focusing on the death within, we want to clean up the outside and present ourselves as righteous. We do so because we can change our outward appearances for others to see, but only God can cleanse the heart.
But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look at his appearance or at his physical stature, because I have refused him. For the Lord does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart" (1 Samuel 16:7).
What good does it do if we spend all our time cleaning the outside of the cup and dish if the inside is still filthy? What good does it do to whitewash or paint a tomb when it does nothing to remove the moral rot inside? How then does this please God when it’s our hearts that He wants to cleanse?
Conclusion
We tend to do what we are capable of. Sometimes, we think that by presenting our lives as grand and breathtaking as the Biltmore, we can fool others. We can have everything clean and in place on the outside, but until we align our hearts with Him and allow Him to clean the inside. In this case, we are no different than the Pharisees.
By allowing God to cleanse our hearts, His beauty and splendor will be reflected outwardly. The beauty of our heavenly Father is more overwhelming and awe-inspiring than George Vanderbilt could have ever imagined for his Biltmore Estate.
“Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God will shine forth” (Psalm 50:2).
Don’t be a hypocrite; allow God to cleanse you from the inside out and let others see His beauty living in you.
About the Author
Tim Woods, M.Min.
Tim Woods lives in West Frankfort, Illinois, where he serves as Director of Student Ministries at First Christian Church and Jr. High/High School Teacher and Chaplain for New Covenant Christian School. Woods earned his B.Min. in Discipleship and M.Min. in Biblical Studies from Veritas Theological Seminary and is currently working toward a D.Min. He is the author of the forthcoming (2025) book, Battle for Souls (Illative House Press).
(c) 2025. Bellator Christi.
