Part Five
This is part five of "People You Shouldn't Marry" by Richard Rohlin
Don’t
Be a Jezebel (Cont’d)
Thirdly, a Jezebel exalts
physical beauty over spiritual beauty. I want to be careful about how I say
this because I don’t believe for a moment that being spiritually beautiful
means that you can’t keep up with fashion, or that you don’t take care of
yourself or your physical appearance. Sadly, there are women who think and
operate this way, overshooting modesty and hitting frumpy instead. To make sure
we keep things in balance, let’s take a look for a moment at the original
Jezebel and where she went wrong.
In 2 Kings 9, the
reformer Jehu has ascended to the throne and is now on his way to destroy the
last of Ahab’s household. Upon hearing of his coming, Jezebel promptly begins
putting on her makeup to prepare herself to meet him. Now, here’s the key:
there is nothing inherently sinful about makeup. There’s not even anything
wrong with putting your best foot forward when you are about to meet someone
important.
The problem here is that
Jezebel is trying to use her physical appearance to compensate for the
wickedness of her heart. She wants to charm and impress her way into Jehu’s
good graces – something she’s probably been able to do herwhole life.
And that’s the
problem – using physical appearance or charms to compensate for lack of depth
of character.
I think that most girls
probably do this without realizing it. It’s the ones that realize what they’re
doing that worry me the most – the girls that proclaim modesty to others while
pushing the boundaries themselves. But the hyper-modest are equally guilty.
Don’t get me wrong –
modesty is important. But it is not the be-all, end-all standard of good
Christianity. The woman who obsesses over her modesty and snidely condemns the
immodesty in others is still guilty of the same idolatry as the girl who
dresses to attract or impress men. It is the idolatry of physical appearance
over inner beauty. Here is what Peter says:
Do not
let your adorning be external–the braiding of hair and the putting on of gold
jewelry, or the clothing you wear– but let your adorning be the hidden
person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle
and quiet spirit, which in God’s sight is very precious. For this is
how the holy women who hoped in God used to adorn themselves, by submitting to
their own husbands… (1Pe 3:3-5)
Peter is not telling
women that they cannot braid their hair or wear jewelry any more than he is
telling them that they cannot wear clothes. The key is in these words: “…but let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart…” It
is not that you should not look nice or wear nice things. But that is not your
adorning. That is not the standard by which you will judge your own worth or the
worth of others.
So there you have it, my
little Tirza. Do not marry an Ahab. Do not be a Jezebel. I hope that
wherever you are, whenever you are reading this, that you are well and that you
know that your Daddy still loves you with all of his heart.
Affectionately,
Your Doting Daddy
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