Parenting by Design - December 15

Glamour

1 Tim. 2:9-10: I also want women to dress modestly, with decency and propriety, not with braided hair or gold or pearls or expensive clothes, but with good deeds, appropriate for women who profess to worship God (NIV).

When your son or daughter gets dressed in the morning, do you cringe? Do you ever ask yourself, "Who are they dressing for?" This passage tells what God expects with respect to outward appearance, and it seems an attention-seeking outer shell is not part of His expectation. It is inner beauty He desires. That does not mean He is opposed to any self-expression, but rather that there is a difference between godly self-expression and the world's version.

Paul contrasts the exterior of a person with their interior. The world spends tons of money convincing us that glamour, beauty and fashion are essential for success. But these are external adornments that may say nothing about the person within the shell. Attention can never substitute for affection, and real affection is attracted by a graceful internal spirit. True beauty comes from within, and is always recognizable to God.

Worldly beauty is only skin deep, but godly beauty is as deep as the character of a person.