I have an interesting story from yesterday. After preaching on marriage from 1 Pet. 3, I had an older couple come up to me – individually (I don’t think the one knew that the other spoke to me.) First, the wife approached me and remarked that the kind of husband that I was describing in my sermon (one who treats her wife with honor) was her husband. Virtually with tears in her eyes, she said that he was a perfect husband. A little bit later, the husband came up to me and told me that I had left one statement out of my sermon. I asked, “What was that?” He said, “Yes, dear!” Later on, I wondered if saying the phrase, “Yes, dear,” connects with the description of being referred to as a “perfect husband.” Does anyone else have some thoughts from yesterday’s sermon?
Two verses that I did not mention very much yesterday, but are power-packed are 1 Pet. 3:3-4. They are the verses that declare that a wife’s adornment should not be external things like braiding the hair, wearing gold jewelry, etc, but the hidden quality of a gentle and quiet spirit. The word translated “adornment” in this verse is literally “world.” Peter does not want Christian women to dress as the “world” does, but in a different way. It is thought that Roman women would show off their wealth and status by how they dressed, but for Christians this was not to be the case. Their focus was to be on the inside.
Yet I get the sneaking suspicion if Peter was to peer into our closets where our clothes are and if he noticed the time it takes for us to get ready, he might wander if we really believe that today. Our culture really entices us with the desire to look good. Being attractive in many ways is the most important currency of today. If you are beautiful or handsome, that opens up so many doors for you. People will want to speak with you, get to know you, and become your friend. I can even feel the pull at church. Who is the guest that I want to talk to more – the handsome young couple that just walked in or the man with disheleved hair and an untucked shirt? Slowly we teach our children that you need to look good. Don’t be immodest, of course, but be attractive. But is that even possible today? I think Peter’s words have a lot of kick to them as he challenges us to think differently (or should I say peculiarly) about our dress. Instead of focusing on dressing the outside, dress the inside, Peter declares. That’s easier said than done, Peter!
What is your response to Peter’s words in 3:3-4? I would love to hear from some of our sisters on how these verses challenge you. God bless your week.
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6 years ago
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I agree that we as women need to dress in a modest way. And as you spoke yesterday day, I thought of the scripture where the older teach the younger. I don't think that happens enough. I know that as women of God we have the responsibility to teach or children, but as members we need to be responsibile for our young women. I belive that how we dress on the outside, reflects how we are dressed on the inside! I think that sometimes we don't say anything to our childred is because we are looking for bigger battles to fight. But this battle can be difficult.
ReplyDeleteThe other issue I have is that the submissive part is at times taken as though we as chistian women must give up Christ and his will for us and convert to something else. Have we gotten that confused or have I ? I know that for some women this is their way of submitting?? I have always seen this scipture as submitting to God first, and being considerate of my husbands feelings and asking God to help me do His will and that of my husband. My attitude has a lot to do with it and how I go about approching it in order to please both God and my spouse.
I think the verses in I Peter tie directly into something I've been thinking about lately. As most of you know, I just gained a daughter through marriage. When I first met her, I thought she was cute. Now, when I look at her, at think she is very beautiful. Her love, patience, kindness, and Christ-centered living have "adorned" her in a way that expensive and provocative clothing could never have done.
ReplyDeleteI believe Peter is telling us not to wear flashy jewelry nor clothing. That that is not what pleases God. What is in our hearts and how you treat others can be far more pleasing to God. I think Peter is also telling us that by adorning oneself with flashy ornaments and clothing, we would be hiding the beauty of our Lord shining through us, that could lead others to want to become Christians also.
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ReplyDeleteThank you, Tina ,Billie, and "Anonymous" for speaking as women of God. When we, as women of God put on Christ in baptism, we are putting on his qualities. We need to remember to clothe ourselves with His love, His humility, and His compassion instead of outward beauty. Furthermore, our beauty comes from within and that of a showy, immodest outward appearance. The unfading beauty of a "gentle and quiet spirit"(I Peter 3:3,4), which is so precious to God, should remain our focus. Our clothing should consist of loving kindness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control (Galatians 5:22). We should clothe ourselves modestly in such a way that others will see our faith shining through with honor, gracefulness, and beauty. Such inner beauty should bring honor to our family, our faith, but most importantly to our Lord and God
ReplyDeleteafter note: please note that I meant to say that beauty comes from within NOT of showy immodest outward appearance. In other words we should strive to be pleasing to God NOT the world.
ReplyDelete"Like a gold ring in a pig's snout is a beautiful woman who shows no discretion". Proverbs 11:22
ReplyDeleteI found this question (about women's dress/beauty) very interesting and very hard to respond to. I try to be modest in my dress, but what is modest to me may be inappropriate to someone else. This can make the subject of dress very relative. We can all say, "well at least I don't dress like her!". I also LOVE to shop. Even if I don't buy anything I enjoy it. New clothes can give me temporary happiness. There, I said it. Steve, you're hitting close to home here.
I looked at all the sciptures with the words "beauty" and "beautiful" in them for some direction. There are certainly some scriptures about women being physically beautiful (Sarah, Rebekah, Esther). We don't even have to mention Song of Solomon! I don't think physical beauty is a sin, but I think Peter is saying it should not be your main goal or emphasis. Our main goal should be to be attractive to God, who looks at the heart (1 Samuel 16:7). And God finds all the things that people above have mentioned (a quiet and gentle spirit, love, patience, kindness, Christ-centered living, and self-control; to name a few) to be attractive. This was a challenge to me to spend MORE time making myself attractive to God than I do making myself attractive for myself or any other human. And I agree with Tina, when you are following Christ, these traits make any woman beautiful.
~Bekah
Thank you sisters for your comments. I wanted to pitch in just a little bit more. I agree with you, Bekah, that being physically beautiful is not a bad thing. God created the world beautiful; so obviously that is a trait that God deems important. Women are called physically beautiful in the Bible not as a put-down, but as a blessing from God. The problem comes in when we begin to abuse the attribute of beauty. We do this with other good gifts that God gives as well. Call it beauty-abuse or even beauty-addiction. We start to attach greater value to beauty than we should. We start to obsess over being viewed as physically beautiful. We start to manufacture beauty, instead of being grateful for what God gave us.
ReplyDeleteBecause of this, modesty can be an issue. We become attracted to the idea of being attractive and the attention that we receive because of it. Thus, we become tempted to lower our standards of dress to gain it. On top of that, immodesty is really not just a personal problem, but an industry problem. If one is going to be modest, she will have to ignore certain fashion trends. Sometimes that is too difficult of a sacrifice. We want to fit in. I might add, sometimes it is not a heart problem but a head problem. There are some young women who simply are too naive to know how their dress affects young men.
The only way we as Christians are going to fight this issue is by having honest conversations with one another about modesty, and by seeking to put greater value on inner beauty than outer beauty. If we do that, we will be peculiar!