God has made us what we are. In Christ Jesus, God made us to do good works, which God planned in advance for us to live our lives doing.Ephesians 2:10(NCV)
I was thinking of ideas to do for group this week with the teens at school. Self esteem kept "popping up" in my mind. For most of us, we have good "self esteem" days and bad "self esteem" days where we struggle with our self worth. This could be due to have an argument with our signficant other, eating too much dessert at a get together, PMS, comparing ourselves with others, bad hair days, and the list goes on..... (lol). When I was researching bible verses of "self esteem", I came across 1 Peter 3:3-4:
Let your beauty not be external—the braiding of hair and wearing of gold jewelry or fine clothes— 4 but the inner person of the heart, the lasting beauty of a gentle and tranquil spirit, which is precious in God’s sight. 1 Peter 3:3-4 (NET)
I liked the verse. I liked how it empathized our "heart' VERSUS our outward appearance. But I wanted to find out more about the "beauty of a gentle and tranquil spirit". I know how some of my girlfriends and I are :) We have gentle days but we also have alot of "sassy" days. Gentle seemed so docile, benign....boring. So I decided to do a little research (which is SO much fun :)
The ornament of a meek and quiet spirit - Of a calm temper; a contented mind; a heart free from passion, pride, envy, and irritability; a soul not subject to the agitations and vexations of those who live for fashion, and who seek to be distinguished for external adorning. The connection here shows that the apostle refers to this, not only as that which would be of great price in the sight of God, but as that which would tend to secure the affection of their husbands, and win them to embrace the true religion (Barnes, 1870)
But a man has a real interest in what constitutes the ornaments of the heart. His happiness, in his contact with his wife, depends on these. He knows what is denoted by a kind temper; by gentle words; by a placid brow; by a modest and patient spirit; by a heart that is calm in trouble, and that is affectionate and pure; by freedom from irritability, fretfulness, and impatience; and he can fully appreciate the value of these things No professional skill is necessary to qualify him to see their worth; and no acquired tact in discrimination is requisite to enable him to estimate them according to their full. The one can never be a substitute for the other; and whatever outward decorations she may have, unless she have a gentleness of spirit, a calmness of temper, a benevolence and purity of soul, and a cultivation of mind that her husband can love, she cannot calculate on his permanent affection (Barnes, 1870).
As we can see, the context of the verses in 1 Peter was how God would like to see a wife interact with a husband. God sees this as "precious" and "powerful" in winning souls to him. However, can you see how this type of strong character, patient personality would be attractive to friends, family, others who are searching for contentment through Christ? I believe God would rather us develop our heart and character versus focusing on superficial appearances to WIN souls for him. Does this mean we can't have sassy days? lol NO. Does this mean we can't be excited to go shopping for new clothes/jewelry? Absolutely not! Gentle/sassy/funny/pretty /sentimental/ strong/vulnerable/ nurturing/unique etc are words to describe what a WOMAN is. This is how He created us:)
FATHER GOD - THANK YOU FOR CREATING US AS PRECIOUS BEINGS THAT WE ARE. HELP US TO FOCUS ON BUILDING OUR CHARACTER AND OPENING OUR HEARTS TO HELP WIN OTHERS TO YOU. REMIND US THAT WE ARE MADE FROM YOU AND ARE DESERVING TO BE TREATED WITH LOVE AND KINDNESS. WE ARE ALSO TO STRIVE TO TREAT OTHERS WITH PATIENCE, LOVE AND KINDESS. THANK YOU FOR YOUR UNCONDITIONAL LOVE. AMEN.
Barnes, Albert. "Commentary on 1 Peter 3:1". "Barnes' Notes on the New Testament". "http://www.studylight.org/com/bnb/view.cgi?book=1pe&chapter=003. 1870
No comments:
Post a Comment