Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as braided hair and the wearing of gold jewelry and fine clothes. Instead, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit. 1 Peter 3:3 (NIV)
When Peter spells out what godly beauty looks like, he is not placing an apostolic ban on certain hairstyles, jewelry, or designer-labels. He is not saying, “You can’t wear them.” He is saying, “Your beauty should not depend on them.”
Far from being some legalistic restraint, what he says here is absolutely liberating. We live in a culture where there is tremendous pressure on how you look. Not many of us look in the mirror and say, “Yes!” Most of us look in the mirror and say, “Oh, dear!” Wiersbe says, “Your beauty should come from your heart and not from the store.”
A gentle and quiet spirit is of great worth in God’s sight, and it never fades away. How you dress and how you keep your hair is important. It will attract the attention of your husband. But the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit will attract the attention of God, and God will use this to make a deep impression on your husband too.
In the Old Testament, the temple was overlaid with gold to make it a beautiful place for God. Now you are God’s temple. What will make your life a beautiful place for God? Answer: the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit. God places a high value on the unfading beauty of the heart. It is of “great worth” in God’s eyes (3:4).
To what kind of beauty are you giving most of your attention? Why?
