Verse of the day: Proverbs 31:30 Charm is deceitful and beauty is passing, but a woman who fears the Lord, she shall be praised.
Proverbs 31 is a popular, and
well-known, proverb for its description of what the ideal, godly, virtuous, wife
looks like. It describes her as one who is industrious and active. She truly
loves, and is kind. She plans well for the future and is discreet. She is
well-respected, both in and out of her home; but most of all, she fears God.
The sad fact of the matter is that too many relationships fall apart,
especially amongst Christians, because we fail to evaluate, and recognize, true
beauty. This verse, although applied to the virtuous woman, applies to both men
and woman, as far as character is concerned. God tells us that “charm”, or “favor”,
is deceitful. In other words, charm is fraudulent. Many people who are charming
outwardly may be captivating, charismatic, and delightful to be around for
short periods of times; or only when gathered socially with others. However,
behind closed doors, that person is far from truly being all of these. Once we
allow them into our lives intimately, they turn out to be mean-spirited,
abusive, rude, and unpleasant to be around. Sadly, too many people, yes, even
Christians, fall for people who outwardly are pleasant to the eyes, but are
rotten to the core. It is like having a nice, shiny, apple that looks delicious
on the outside, but when we bite into it, it is rotten and worm-filled. God
tells us that outer beauty is passing, or vain. We may be attracted to someone
who has a nice body or a face that is very easy to look at, but all that passes
with time. So many things, or events, can affect outer beauty. An accident can
leave a person outwardly deformed. Stress wears the body down and causes beauty
to fade. Age causes bodies that were once firm to sag, and faces that were once
young and smooth to wrinkle. Sickness and disease can affect our outward
appearance adversely, and some people just get weary of trying to maintain a certain
level of health and start eating unhealthy and not exercise; thereby no longer
being beautiful by the world’s vain standards. When all that is gone, what do
you have left? If these external things are the measure we use to choose the
person we want to “spend the rest of our life with”; once the charm and beauty
fade, what will we do? I can tell you what we would do, because the statistics
scream it loud and clear. The sad fact is that Christians have not proven to
the world that we are any wiser in the matter of relationships, mostly because
we have become as vain as the world when it comes to judging, or discerning,
character. We are blinded by the superficially way too often. We need to stop
looking at who a person is on the outside, and see who they are on the inside.
This takes time, prayer, and godly wisdom. A truly beautiful person is one who,
first and foremost, seeks the Lord. For us, the born again believer, it is one
who we can be equally yoked with. A born again believer has no business being
unequally yoked with an unbeliever (2 Cor 6:14). A child of God sees beauty in
the same way God sees beauty, from the inside out. When we find that person who
is beautiful on the inside, because they fear, or have reverence for God, and
serve Him faithfully, we have truly found a great treasure. Their words, deeds,
and actions will reflect their heart for God. Our love for one another, as
Christian spouses, should be founded in our relationship with Jesus Christ. It
is only then that relationships will survive, when sickness comes, when age
deteriorates us, and when all the vanity of outer beauty fades away, or is
taken away in the blink of an eye. In and of ourselves, we can all be pretty
ugly as human beings, because we are all born with a sin nature. Only when we
accept Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord, and develop an intimate relationship
with Him, can we truly be beautiful people, as we fear Him, and shine His light
brightly in this world, and in our relationships. We need to stop using vain
and superficial measures to determine who our life-mate will be. We need to
start relying on the Lord to lead us to the right person, in His time, in His
way; and the best way to do that is to focus our attention on serving Him, and
let Him lead us, as we serve Him, to the person that will be right for us;
because they will be the person who will have a heart for God before they give
their heart to us. By the same token, let us not forget that we need to also be
that type of Christian spouse for whomever God chooses for us.
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