Before you say anything – the Gospel is our adornment. The lovely grace of God on our lives.
This is an outward working of that adornment.
Sometimes I think I get this – most often, I don’t have it. I struggle, I wish this reflected me. This is how I press into the gospel though – right? I’ll never be completely what I should be in this area – I can strive with grace (working out your faith with fear and trembling) – and pray for the return of Jesus. Complete sanctification. Will be a good thing. More importantly – Jesus.
This is from the Crossway Blog today:
The world tells women that happiness and success lie in white teeth, in muscle tone and trendy clothes. And today the women who have these physical assets are held out as role models for women and girls.
We find a very different sort of role model in Proverbs 31. From her example we discover how we, uniquely as women, have been made in God’s image. In other words, another way to be pure is to live so that others around us see the goodness of God through our femininity. How does this biblical role model in Proverbs demonstrate this?
If you read through verses 10 to 31, one of the first things you’ll discover is her priorities. She was focused on caring for her family, honoring her husband, helping the needy, and exercising her God-given talents. What we don’t find is a preoccupation with personal comfort, fleshly pleasures, and outward appearance. We also see her strength. She was strong in mind, body, and character. She took initiative to get things done but not in a spirit of self-serving independence. The most important thing we discover is that she feared the Lord, which we are meant to understand as the undergirding of every other good quality she possessed.
A woman like this is a beautiful picture of biblical femininity, and it glorifies God. Are we seeking to be like her? The answer depends on those we choose as role models. Of course we can’t actually become this ideal woman any more than we can become the air-brushed celebrities we see on magazine covers, because she isn’t real.
We can, however, become our own unique version of her—a woman who exults in being feminine to the glory of God—in our personal set of circumstances and in our calling. Radiating biblical femininity in all we do and think and say radiates purity.
Excpert modified from Purity: A Godly Woman’s Adornment. Join Lydia Brownback for Tuesday Talk as she chats through different topics on purity and godly womanhood.