True Beauty

Friday, April 4, 2025

True Beauty – 1 Peter 3:1-5 Submitted by Kay Crumley

Women are bombarded with ads about how to enhance our beauty. There are many that want to sell the magic pill that will cause us to lose weight, or the procedure that will hide aging by taking away wrinkles, make our skin softer and younger looking. If we just have the right hair style or color, we will be more glamorous. And of course, we must have the most stylish shoes and clothing. But what is beauty that will last? If we rely on the external appearance which is dictated by the current fashion trend that will never last for long. Styles change, cultural norms will alter, social expectations are fickle. The world’s standard for beauty will fade away just as the beautiful spring flowers fade, lose their color, and the petals fall.  

Peter is writing to the believers in what is now modern Turkey who have been dispersed due to persecution from Jerusalem. He is writing to the wives in Chapter 3. Women of the time were little more than slaves. They had no rights and could be put out of their husband’s home, divorced, for any reason he chose to give. Peter is addressing these women to encourage them and help them understand what truly lasting beauty is. I have selected the passage below from the Contemporary English Version.   

1 If you are a wife, you must put your husband first. Even if he opposes our message, you will win him over by what you do. No one else will have to say anything to him, 2 because he will see how you honor God and live a pure life. 3 Don't depend on things like fancy hairdos or gold jewelry or expensive clothes to make you look beautiful. 4 Be beautiful in your heart by being gentle and quiet. This kind of beauty will last, and God considers it very special. 5 Long ago those women who worshiped God and put their hope in him made themselves beautiful by putting their husbands first. 

Many of the women believers Peter was writing to may have been married to unbelieving husbands. However, these women were to submit to their husbands. Notice that does not extend to all men. The term was a military term meaning to submit to the authority of the husband. Submission to authority can be totally consistent with equality in importance, dignity and honor. The problem they faced was how to be Christian wives with a non-Christian husband. Even if the husband doesn’t believe in the same way, he still has authority in the household over the wife.  

Peter then explains to the Christian wives that they might be able to persuade them to believe in Christ by how they behave. Living a Christian lifestyle will speak louder than words. Living to honor God and keep to His precepts will influence those in the household to see that there is something different about the believer. Characteristics that are attractive and will cause them to question that difference and perhaps turn to Him.  

Don’t waste time and money on temporary, external adornments to attract the husband. Rather, be beautiful from the inside out with gentleness, and quiet spirit. These godly characteristics will last forever. They are incorruptible, they will not fade away in time or social preferences. Godly character is desirable and lasting.  

Peter then uses Sarah, the wife of Abraham, as an example of a Godly woman who put her husband first. Even when His promises seemed impossible, she submitted to her husband. God was faithful to fulfill His promises.  

Lasting beauty comes from the inner being, godly character, the lasting love we have in Him. Ladies, we are beautiful regardless of our outward appearance. The fruit of the Spirit in believers is where true beauty comes from.  

Who Is Like The Lord?

Thursday, April 3, 2025

With whom will you compare God? What likeness will you set up for comparison with him? An idol?—something that a smelter casts and a metalworker plates with gold and makes silver chains for? Isaiah 40:18-19 CSB

Who Is Like The Lord?

Meriam-Webster defines an idol as 1.) an object of extreme devotion; 2.) a representation or symbol of an object of worship. Anything we treasure more than God, whatever we run to fulfill our deepest needs and give us the joy and peace we are looking for, or whatever drives our thoughts and actions can become an idol. Many times we run to or create idols to numb ourselves against a painful experience or circumstance.

We substitute idols for God and we believe for a moment that they can fill the void in our hearts. But we awake to discover that they have simply left a bigger hole as they have taken part of our hearts with them. Most of the time when we replace God with an idol we don’t even realize what is happening. We might not consciously think to ourselves, "I am going to worship this car or drugs or money or things instead of God." We believe we can handle all of it – God and our idols. We think we can have a relationship with God and still keep our idols. But the reality is that when we create an idol, it can quickly take over the throne of our heart. You may feel like you don’t love anything or anyone more than God but we can tell what we worship when we look at how we spend our money and our time. 

Tim Keller stated in his book, Counterfeit Gods, an idol is “anything more important to you than God, anything that absorbs your heart and imagination more than God, and anything that you seek to give you what only God can give.”

Idols lie. The inanimate, lifeless objects speak loudly in our hearts and in our heads, making promises they have no ability to keep. They promise we will be happy if we have just one more _____, or a certain car, or more drugs, alcohol, sex, a bigger house, more clothes, or even more exercise. We think they can give us fulfillment, happiness, confidence and even love. We imagine these manmade relics offer what only the creator of the universe and the creator of man can fulfill. The One who made the one who made them is the only true hope for the longing we expect them to fill. We even realize they fall short and still, we try again, or try another one, until we come to the end of ourselves, our resources, and our people. When we stand surrendered before him, then God can work with us. Then we turn to Him and realize that He is the one we were seeking all along. 

With whom will you compare God? What likeness will you set up for comparison with him? Nothing and no one can ever compare to our God. He never plays games with us. He is always near, and we don’t have to grope around in the dark to find Him. When we are His children, if we live and move and exist in Him, there will be no room in our hearts for idolatry. Fill your heart and mind with Him and you will find what you are looking for. 

The God who made the world and all things in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands; nor is He served by human hands, as though He needed anything, since He Himself gives to all people life and breath and all things; and He made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation, that they would seek God, if perhaps they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us; for in Him we live and move and exist, as even some of your own poets have said, ‘For we also are His children.’ Being then the children of God, we ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and thought of man. Acts 17:24-29 

 

 

 

Do You Have A Stone? Or Twelve?

Tuesday, April 2, 2025

Joshua told the people, “Consecrate yourselves, because the Lord will do wonders among you tomorrow.” Then he said to the priests, “Carry the ark of the covenant and go on ahead of the people.” So they carried the ark of the covenant and went ahead of them. The Lord spoke to Joshua: “Today I will begin to exalt you in the sight of all Israel, so they will know that I will be with you just as I was with Moses. Command the priests carrying the ark of the covenant: When you reach the edge of the water, stand in the Jordan.”  Joshua 3:5-8 (CSB)

When the feet of the priests who carry the ark of the Lord, the Lord of the whole earth, come to rest in the Jordan’s water, its water will be cut off. The water flowing downstream will stand up in a mass.” Joshua 3:13 (CSB) 
The Children of Israel were on the banks of the Jordan and finally ready to go into the promised land. Their ancestors had missed the blessing of the promised land and now their children were going to receive the blessing. The promised land was just across the Jordan river, but the river was at flood stage and running rapidly. Everything God had promised was just on the other side - but they had to cross the river first. Joshua’s message to them was that the living God is with you, and He will not fail, and He will part the waters and make a way. They had to have faith and trust him. They had to step into the raging waters, believing that God would part them, and they would not be swept away. They did it because they knew God's promises were true and he was faithful. They trusted him and stepped into raging waters on faith.

After the entire nation had finished crossing the Jordan, the Lord spoke to Joshua: “Choose twelve men from the people, one man for each tribe, and command them: Take twelve stones from this place in the middle of the Jordan where the priests are standing, carry them with you, and set them down at the place where you spend the night.” So Joshua summoned the twelve men he had selected from the Israelites, one man for each tribe, and said to them, “Go across to the ark of the Lord your God in the middle of the Jordan. Each of you lift a stone onto his shoulder, one for each of the Israelite tribes so that this will be a sign among you. In the future, when your children ask you, ‘What do these stones mean to you?’ you should tell them, ‘The water of the Jordan was cut off in front of the ark of the Lord’s covenant. When it crossed the Jordan, the Jordan’s water was cut off.’ Therefore these stones will always be a memorial for the Israelites.” Joshua 4:1-7

Do You Have A Stone? Or Twelve? 

The Lord told Joshua to command 12 men from each tribe to go back into the riverbed and get 12 stones out of the riverbed, and build a monument. The riverbed was the scariest place for them. The waters were parted, and they had faith to go, but wonder if about halfway through they might have thought about they would drown should the waters come crashing back together. Those stones from the scariest part of their faith were so they would be reminded of what God had done, and maybe so they would remember that even in the scariest places in our lives he never leaves us or forsakes us. He doesn’t ever make a promise and change his mind, and that is what we must remember to strengthen our faith. He never leaves us in our most challenging moments. He is with us always in our highs and in our lows – holding our hand the whole way. 

The stones are what we bring from the creek bed of our struggles, trauma, trials, and difficult circumstances. The stones remind us of where we have been and how we have overcome in the power of Jesus. Our lives feel overwhelming during these times because we try to solve things in our own heads. But Jesus has a bigger and better plan every time. His ways are not our ways. There is no earthly solution to what we face and even if there is an earthly solution, it will never work without the power and sovereignty of our Heavenly Father. The stones also remind us of his faithfulness. There might be pain and loss, and nothing may work out the way we want it to, but we surrender our way to have his better way, even when pain is involved. We can trust him and every time we look at our feel a stone from the riverbed of our trials, we remember his faithfulness. 

The night before the big day, Joshua told the children of Israel “Consecrate yourselves, because the Lord will do wonders among you tomorrow.” We should make it a daily practice to sanctify ourselves and focus on the Lord so that we are spiritually prepared to see his wonders because he does wonders among us every day. Every day there are Jordans to be crossed and huge steps of faith to be taken. The more focused on him we are, the more prepared we are to be obedient so we can be a part of his work. Collect the stones from the riverbed places in your life. Remember God’s faithfulness in your obedience. Remember the waters he parts. Share with those around you and those that come after you so that they can know the faithfulness of God and what he has done in your life. 

A New Commandment

Tuesday, April 1, 2025

It was now just before the Passover Feast, and Jesus knew that His hour had come to leave this world and return to the Father. Having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the very end. The evening meal was underway, and the devil had already put into the heart of Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, to betray Jesus. Jesus knew that the Father had delivered all things into His hands, and that He had come from God and was returning to God.  So He got up from the supper, laid aside His outer garments, and wrapped a towel around His waist.  After that, He poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and dry them with the towel that was around Him. John 13:1-5

It was the Thursday of the week leading up to the death and resurrection of Jesus. We heard Pastor Jim talk about the tension Jesus felt in the garden that Thursday night and his choice to take the cup, to bear the sins of the whole world, so that we could find redemption and eternal life. Just before the scene in the garden, Jesus and his disciples had been in the upper room celebrating the Passover with a meal together – the last supper.  Jesus gave the disciples a new command to love as he has loved. Right up to the time of His death - and in His death - Jesus was the living picture of true, pure, sacrificial love. 

A New Commandment

As Jesus celebrated His final Passover meal with disciples, he washed their feet, a beautiful display of humility and servant leadership. As they sat together, Jesus rose from the table and began to wash their feet. Peter was uncomfortable with Jesus washing his dirty feet. But Jesus told Peter that unless he let Jesus wash his feet, he couldn’t be a part of His work.  Jesus was setting an example for them as he began to give them his new commandment. 

He instructed them to wash each other’s feet just as he has washed their feet. Jesus wasn’t just setting an example; He was telling them to be humble and serve one another.  This is how He expected them to treat each other after He left, and how we as his disciples are to treat others.  I have set you an example so that you should do as I have done for you.  Truly, truly, I tell you, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. If you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them. John 13:16-17

The new commandment Jesus gave the disciples that night was… that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. John 13:34 This command gave the disciples a new standard to measure themselves by, the way they loved others.

Jesus loved his disciples sacrificially, meeting their deepest needs in a way no one else could, by giving them forgiveness of sins and new life. He loved everyone that way, even His enemies. He commanded His disciples, and us, to love all the way He loved. That means those who we think don’t deserve it, those who are difficult to love, and those who are different than us. He loves us unconditionally, expecting nothing in return, and He expects us to love others that way as well. He gives us a choice we don’t deserve. We have the option of death as the wages of sin, (For the wages of sin is death… Romans 6:23a), or death to our self (sin) and eternal life in Him. (...but the gift of God is eternal life in Jesus Christ our Lord. Romans 6:23b) We only deserve death, but he loved us enough to gift us eternal life, if we choose to accept it. 

Right up to the end of His life Jesus was setting the example of how we are supposed to live our lives and treat others. He showed us with his life that how we treat others will be more important than any other accomplishment we will ever achieve. 

A new commandment I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you also must love one another.  By this everyone will know that you are My disciples, if you love one another. John: 13:34-35