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I Peter 3.3, 4 (NIV)
Your beauty should not come from
outward adornment. . . . Instead it should be that of your inner self, the
unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s
sight.
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| It’s our differences from the world that makes us attractive, not our similarities. If we look just as grungy as the world, what’s our draw?* |
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Some
people get all caught up in the first part of these verses and get the idea that
outward beauty is ungodly. As someone has observed, tongue in cheek, if Peter
was prohibiting all “adorning,” he would be prohibiting clothing!* Surely we shouldn’t believe
that Peter meant that it is wrong to look good. His goal was to caution us
about our priorities, not to discourage us (women and men) from making the most
of what we have to work with. And, as Peter points out, we all have more work
to do than can be seen from the outside.
For
myself, I am somewhat successful in putting on the mind of Christ in my
attitudes, character, and behavior, but “the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet
spirit” seems unattainable. And yet, perhaps I am still focusing on the outward
– not in regards to physical appearance but to personality. No one who knows me
well would describe me as a gentle and quiet spirit. Honest and trustworthy,
they might call me - but do they know the heart of me that only God knows? “To have a
gentle and quiet spirit is to have a heart of faith, a heart that trusts in
God, a spirit that has been quieted by his love and filled with his peace. Not
a heart that is striving and restless.”*
Why,
yes. That is me.
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| No amount of finery can be a substitute for gracious Christian Personality.* |
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