Devo Post #13

3/23/16

1 Peter 3:3-4

Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as elaborate hairstyles and the wearing of gold jewelry or fine clothes. 4 Rather, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight.

I know this is addressed to Godly women, but there is enough scripture and evidence in other parts of the Bible that I believe this can be extrapolated to all modern Christians. Gentleness and a quiet spirit in both men and women of God is something pleasing to God.

Our outer appearances should not matter. That is that. Anyone who says differently either isn’t a Christian or is a Christian with his/her head stuck in the butthole of the world. I don’t need to elaborate any more than that.

How about myself? I tend to not care how I dress, usually adorning a T-shirt, jeans, and my ugly but comfy Nike Monarchs. But I know deep down I do judge people by appearances, and am still subjected to treating people better if they look or sound more attractive. I know when I was young I was under that influence, given who I crushed on in elementary school. As I grew older and became friends with more and more outcasts within the American public education, I learned to care more and take more things into consideration of a person’s behavior and inherent worth. I became someone who could see past a lot of surface traits of people and look deeper into who they truly are. Even at WashU, with its plethora of well-dressed and rich students, I was able to maintain this ability of mine to not be subjected by physical appearances and truly care for those who need my care, and be friends with those who have character, not charisma and looks. I even took this as far as treating people who look attractive poorly and giving them less chances to befriend me. I immediately judged people who looked good or dressed well as arrogant and self-absorbed, as this was the case at first when I met Kelvin at CMU. I basically told myself “look at all those ACF girls fawning over him, he doesn’t need my friendship.” God showed me I was dead wrong, and look at us two now.

I have noticed changes in myself since I went to CMU, and even now in Chicago, that I am now more prone to stare and prettier women and pander to attractive people, at least to a much larger degree than in the past. I mean, any increase is already a lot compared to how I was in the past, especially towards females. Before, I cared not about looks, and my KC friends all know I used to never notice boobs or butts. Now though I find myself actually perceiving they exist, and in the slightest ways I am feeling some physical attraction towards them than I ever had. One may say puberty hit me a decade and a half late. I may now be closer to a normal boy or man than I used to be, but I cannot help but feel ashamed, especially towards my sisters in Christ. I never used to lust in manners that my brothers in Christ struggle so hard, but now I think I am struggling more and more with this. Oh how I stalk more pictures on Facebook now than I ever used to. Need to call out myself and repent. My sisters in Christ deserve much better from me.

I need to learn, or re-learn, that a man’s/woman’s worth is not found in how attractive they are, how much they earn, how prestigious they are in their field, how they dress or carry themselves, but in their character, humility, and love of God. That is how Jesus treated those who came to Him, whether it was repentant beggars or tax collectors, or even repentant pharisees. But those who use their outer appearances and outer behavior, Jesus calls out their true nature on the inside, “bones and filth” and “greed and self-indulgence.”

I must not be self-focused. I also must not enable my brothers and sisters to be the self-focused either. I will never date or marry someone who focuses on the outside, whether towards me or in general, but I will look for someone who is humble, has character, and is a woman after God’s own heart.