So many work hard to outdo and outshine. For some reason there is so much focus on vanity around us. You see it on the cover of magazines and on television. It wasn’t too long ago that I felt like I wasn’t worth much without the designer labels, big house, the high-end designer handbags, designer jewelry, high end wristwatches, luxury cars… I even had to wear expensive make-up. Even with a lot of nice things, anyone who knows me could tell you I looked like a plain, ordinary mom. Nothing fancy at all. None of these things ever accentuated the real me. I poured money into things that didn’t do anything for me. I made myself think I was something more special than I was because of what I had.
Vanity left emptiness in me that I was filling with overpriced goods rather than Christ. What good were these nice things to me if they were to cause others to examine what they have or didn’t have? What good were these things to me if they did nothing? I began a couple years ago selling many of the things I had. A nearly $700 handbag is not much good to me if I was going to keep having peanut butter and jelly smudged across it!
1 Timothy 2:9 “In like manner also, that the women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with propriety and moderation, not with braided hair or gold or pearls or costly clothing.” My understanding is that this is in reference to the church. We shouldn’t want the focus to be on us and what we’re wearing but on Christ in us. The next scripture explains this more.
1 Peter 3:3-4 “Do not let you 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.”
We are told by Jesus in Matthew 6:19-21, “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where you treasure is, there your heart will be also.” Jesus really put things into perspective with those verses. The things we have here on earth are not for eternity. It is much better to invest in what is eternal. There is nothing wrong with having a higher standard of living; but what good are nice things and fancy living when your priorities aren’t in order? We can’t take it with us!
Please check out my related blog on Being Content.
Scriptures referenced are quoted from the NKJV.