Imagine someone taking a second look at you – a positive second look. Imagine someone sifting through 391 resumes and your resume catches their eye. They dig it out from the pile and set it alone on the desk. Throughout the day it gets picked up and looked at repeatedly as the employer reads and re-reads portions of it. Imagine getting the call about your dream job and the employer says: “You have exactly what I’ve been looking for.” How much would that call mean to you?
Multiply the thrill of that call a thousand times. Imagine God scanning the globe. Not 391 people but 7 billion earth dwellers – no trifling number for sure! He’s looking for something.
4,670,534,111: “No. Flaunts self. Too showy.”
4,670,534,112: “No. Heart seething with bitterness and stubbornness.”
4,670,534,113: “No. ‘Look at me. See me’ attitude.”
4,670,534,114: “No. Rabid envy, jealousy, and covetousness within.”
4,670,534,115: “No. All external. Shallow internally.”
4,670,534,116: “Just a minute. Pause. A second look. Yes! Exactly what I’ve been looking for! Now this is what I value. All the other displays, below the cheap tinsel external wrapping, which incidentally, doesn’t do a thing for Me, were sadly lacking and disappointing. What I see in 4,670,534,116 not only catches My eyes but it thrills and delights My heart. It is of great value to Me.”
Of course, this is only a weak human analogy. We think in terms of numbers – but God knows names and hearts. Now try reading these verses:
“Do not let your adornment be merely outward – arranging the hair, wearing gold, or putting on fine apparel – rather let it be the hidden person of the heart, with the incorruptible beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is very precious in the sight of God” (1Peter 3:3-4 NKJV).
Really, the most expensive clothing, the shiniest luxury vehicles, the brightest and most tasteful jewelry, the coolest hair styles and the fanciest of homes and furniture – are all the trappings of this age that catch the eyes of the world but fail to impress the Lord. They are perks for our enjoyment – not His. The context for the verse above is women, but the adornment that God values in all of us is what He can see and appreciate in the hidden person of the heart. What He values is the hidden me because that’s who I really am, and nothing more, before the Lord.
Sincerity, humility, simplicity, modesty, and dignity should be five distinguishing features of our Christian lifestyle. Read the Epistles and see how frequently these five Christian lifestyle qualities surface in the teachings of the New Testament. If the hidden person of the heart is right – the externals in our life will be right as well. But the opposite of that is not necessarily true.
What is my primary adornment? Is it external or is it internal? Am I working hard to catch and please the eye of God or the eye of the world around me?
