³ “Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as elaborate hairstyles and the wearing of gold jewelry or fine clothes. ⁴ Rather, 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.”      1 Peter 3:3-4 NIV

Peter tells the women in his letter their beauty should not come from jewelry or outer adornments. Rather, their beauty should be born out of their inner selves, their gentle and quiet spirits.  Some women read into this… actually changing the meaning of the scripture to say that outward beauty should be undesirable, that a woman should not wear make-up or jewelry.  If you hold that opinion, your heart may become tempted to judge fellow sisters who do not hold that same belief.

 I was reading Peter the other day and came to this… I realized something I had not before.  God is very clear in this scripture.  What Paul is warning us from is not “the actual wearing” but the idol that it can become.  We shouldn’t be overly concerned with our appearance, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t care at all!

Our beauty shouldn’t come from outward adornment…

Our true beauty is revealed by our Heart…

What owns your Heart?

~Is your Heart Jealous (coveting what other women have or how they look)?

~Are your Heart Attitudes (which are revealed by your tongue-gossip) ugly, making others look bad to puff your self up?

Someone could have beautiful “appearance” but have a nasty or disrespectful and untrustworthy inner self!  God takes us as we are… he looks at our hearts.  So we should likewise not be overly concerned with outward appearances.

Should we care about our appearance?  I think we should… I think that to a certain degree (not entirely), but to a certain degree, how we are doing inside is reflected in how we take care of ourselves, and how we care for our relationships.

For example, God made men wonderful… wonderfully visual.  If you are married, or going to be, you should take care of yourself, inside and out.  This scripture is not an excuse for women to look frumpy and ignore taking care of ourselves.  For example, if you are married and you want your husband to kiss you… brush your teeth.  🙂  Likewise, knowing your husband was created by God visual, help a man out with the visual temptations of this world and TRY to look nice for him.  This scripture says… God looks at the heart… it clearly says “man looks at outward appearance.”

While we should try to follow God’s example looking at the heart, He is also teaching us about how He made man.  It is a fact, he made men visual.  That being said, work at it a little ladies.  Let your husband know you still care what He thinks of how you look.

We also need to understand that God made ALL Men Visual, and so we need to be careful not to cause our “brothers in Christ” to sin (men who we are not married to).  We need to dress first for our God, then for our husbands; taking special care not to tempt other men to into sin.  You can be modest, yet attractive and non-frumpy.

What is of great worth to God and men who seek God, is not someone who knows how to layer the eyeshadow perfectly, but someone who is beautiful in their heart.  They are kind to others hoping the best for them, generous, and have the joy of the Spirit radiating from them.

“If you are filled with light within, then your face will be radiant too.”      Luke 11:36

I Love this verse.  I memorized it in High School and it has remained one of my main prayers… to always try to shine for Jesus… smile… we always have so much to be thankful for, even in hard times.  When I did missions as a young lady, this raw fact was impressed upon my heart; that no matter how hard things got in my life, someone always had it harder, and I was truly blessed.  If God is in our heart and we are in relationship with Him regularly, then our contenance will reflect it.  It is a choice to focus on the negative and pout and it is a choice to try harder to smile, even if maybe we don’t feel like it.  It is a reflection of what is within.  Our perspective of our circumstances is reflected in our face.

I am not saying you don’t share what is really going on… not at all…(we are to carry one another’s burdens and pray for one another, be real with those in your life, not fake). I am saying though, that you don’t let your circumstances consume you, your every thought.  Even if the worst circumstances befall you, when you have the Joy of the Lord and His “light filled within,” then your face will be radiant too.”  True Believers can not have their light stolen by mere circumstances.  So let’s let our lights shine, smile, share thankfulness, gladness, and kindness to people you know and meet.  That is true beauty, the Light of Jesus in our hearts, shining from our eyes and smile.

I would love to hear your thoughts on these verses…

Let’s Shine for Jesus & Smile…

Angie