This Day in History: 0000-07-16

July 16 – 1 Timothy 2:9-10 

And I want women to be modest in their appearance. They should wear decent and appropriate clothing and not draw attention to themselves by the way they fix their hair or by wearing gold or pearls or expensive clothes. For women who claim to be devoted to God should make themselves attractive by the good things they do. 

These verses from 1 Timothy, and especially the ones right after these have stirred up all kinds of controversy in the church and among women. I’m not here to solve any of those issues, or really even address them. What I would like to do is simply address the state of our hearts as women who seek to know and follow hard after God. 

As in so many other areas of life, we can choose to get all up in arms about our rights and what we’re entitled to, or we can choose to let all of that go, and simply submit ourselves to the Word of God. I can’t speak for you, dear sister, but in my own life I’ve found far more freedom and contentment in the later. 

God makes it clear in these verses that He couldn’t care less about the things we so often believe will make us impressive as women. He’s uninterested in how much our outfit cost, or how much time we spent fixing our hair. He pays no attention to whether or not we’re “pretty,” or “hot.” In fact, He’d prefer we draw less attention to these things rather than more attention to them. 

What God longs to see from His dearly loved daughters is devotion to Him, a gentle and quiet spirit, (1 Peter 3) modesty, and a life willing to labor for Kingdom work. So let’s eagerly give Him what He wants! After all He’s done for us, why in the world wouldn’t we?  

May we choose today to let go of all the pretense. Let’s stop focusing on our outward appearance and willingly give God our hearts!  Let’s love Him with all that we are and devote ourselves to working diligently for His Kingdom! Let’s follow His leading in all areas of our lives, submitting ourselves to His way of doing things. May we have eyes to see the needs He lays before us and may the cry of our hearts be, “Here am I, Lord, send me!”