WoG Wednesday: 1 Peter 3:3-4

This week's Word of God Wednesday contains three parts but all are complementary...hope you'll read them and be encouraged!

1 Peter 3:3-4

Don’t be concerned about the outward beauty of fancy hairstyles, expensive jewelry, or beautiful clothes. You should clothe yourselves instead with the beauty that comes from within, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is so precious to God.

Part 1
As an extreme people-pleaser, I very often put a huge emphasis on appearance and making sure I come across as this put-together, wonderful mother and wife. Part of my strive to please manifests itself in trying to be "popular", too. So, I often find myself more caught up in the happenings of the cyber world instead of my real world. At the same time, though, reading other's blogs have helped convict me of where I should put my priorities. Lindsay (of Passionate Homemaking) talked about balancing family life and computer life

“If there is one thing I could encourage every mommy blogger or work-at-home mom out there to remember, it is this: anyone can be a pretty good blogger or pretty good business owner, but there is only person who is mommy to your children and wife to your husband. Don’t let all the good things out there take precedence over the best things. You only have one life to live–make it count!”

and Kelly (of Our Lincoln Log) talked about taking a day to just unplug from everything.

Part 2
One of my Boston friends encouraged me to read "Twelve Extraordinary Women" by John MacArthur. She and another one of my B-town friends studied it together and they loved it.

Being the cheapskate that I am, I tried to find it at the library. I put a hold on it and it finally came in right before we left for Florida. Turns out it is the LARGE PRINT edition and, it also turns out that large print reading is a blessing in disguise--instead of being able to skim over small print, the big words are forcing me to concentrate on each sentence. I'm finding lots of gems in each paragraph that I probably otherwise would have glossed over. (maybe i should start writing my blog in large font so your read what i write! Ha!)

Part 3
Where am I going with all this (and are you still reading?!?!)?

To tie Part 1 and Part 2 together...

One thing that John MacArthur highlights in his Introduction is the fact that, despite what many people think, the Bible values women and talks about our importance! The Bible does not, however, place value on women's outer appearance but, rather on "true feminine excellence" which, according to John MacArthur is "always exemplified in moral and spiritual qualities rather than by social standing, wealth, or physical appearance" (page 27 in the large print edition).

Now, every time I look in the mirror and cringe about something I see, I ask myself, "am I as concerned about my inner appearance as i am about my outer appearance?" This question, coupled with the reminder of priorities in 1 Peter 3:3-4, unfortunatel convicts me that I am not as concerned but it encourages me to start living life with different priorities. I hope it does for you, too!