Unfading Beauty

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. 1 Peter 3:3-4

WHEN WE READ Peter’s words to women, telling them not to be concerned about hairstyles, jewelry, or clothing, we wonder if he was really married, or if he was ever around a woman. Being concerned with our appearance seems innate to being a woman —especially a young woman growing up in a culture obsessed with physical beauty. And because of our culture’s worship of physical attractiveness, the idea of being beautiful “on the inside” is anathema to most females. It sounds like code language for “ugly.” So what is Peter commending here?

The point here is not to ban flattering hairstyles or stylish clothing. It’s about the vastly superior value of inward beauty over being a slave to fashion and appearance. Peter is commending modesty and restraint in dress. More than that, he’s helping us to value what God values more than what the world values. He’s telling us what God puts a high price tag on, what is precious to God, what catches his eye. This quality —a gentle and quiet spirit —comes from within and has the potential to become more beautiful with age rather than fading in beauty over time.

Peter is calling us to be countercultural in determining what is beautiful. His words challenge us as moms to be more concerned about clothing ourselves with a gentle and quiet spirit, a deep and abiding trust in God, than we are about keeping up with the latest fashions. As we do so, we’ll be more likely to lead our daughters toward valuing this kind of beauty too.

Lord, to be more concerned about being beautiful on the inside than we are about being attractive in our appearance and dress seems like a very tall order in our image-obsessed culture. It will become a reality in our lives only as we are joined to Christ, who had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him. Fill us with the spirit of Christ, who was willing to bear our ugliness so that we might become beautiful to God.