1 Peter 3:3-4

“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.”

There is a beauty that fades and perishes. We fight to keep this beauty with creams, masks, surgeries, and other expensive things. Jewelry is worn, shoes are coordinated, and fashions are strictly observed. But the sad truth is that these time-consuming, wallet-shrinking activities will ultimately fail. You will grow old and die. You will wrinkle. You will loose your tone. You will decay.

We should give our attention to a different kind of beauty. If we want age-defying beauty, we need to have a gentle and quiet spirit. We need to be concerned with cleaning up our inside. Last Sunday, I put on my special black and white power suit. I got my rarely used black shoes out of the closet, took care of a few things, and then went to church. When I sat down for morning prayer meeting, I looked down at my shoes in horror. I had mistakenly put on my brown shoes. How could I make such a mistake. I wanted to leave the prayer meeting to go change my shoes immediately. After prayer, I returned home to bring my feet into conformity with accepted fashion. What’s the point? I would not knowingly leave the house wearing the wrong color shoes (external adorning). But I will leave without working on my inside. My priority was wrong.

This passage does not teach that we should refrain from trying to look nice on the outside. It teaches that our main attention should be given to the condition of our heart rather than the condition of our exterior. There is a proper balance. We can focus on our spiritual state to the neglect of our bodies. But this is a rare occurrence. We err on the side of an overemphasis on the external. That is why we have to be told not to do this.

Society tells women that men will love them if they are beautiful. The Bible says they need to give attention to the condition of their heart. God views internal, imperishable beauty as a precious thing and so will husbands.