Church bulletin<\/p>\n
I hate going to the shops, especially when I need to do buy clothes. It\u2019s normally a drawn-out affair in which the moaning of the children is second only to mine. The last occasion was a bit different \u2013 cargo pants, shorts, two shirts, and two polo shirts all done and dusted in an hour. What are some Biblical principles which should shape our thinking about appearance? Here are a few thoughts:<\/p>\n
A. Appearance is not unimportant. The way we present ourselves says something about us. The virtuous woman of Proverbs 31 dressed herself and her children appropriately and smartly. Vv21-22, <\/span>\u201c<\/i>She is not afraid of snow for her household, for all her household\u00a0is clothed with scarlet. 22 <\/sup>She makes tapestry for herself; her clothing\u00a0is fine linen and purple.\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n When Samuel went looking to anoint Israel\u2019s next king God said, <\/span>\u201cDo not look at his appearance or at his physical stature, because I have refused him. For<\/i>\u00a3<\/sup>\u00a0the\u00a0Lord does not\u00a0see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the\u00a0Lord looks at the heart.\u201d<\/i> In this instance Samuel was to ignore the appearance, the point being people do take note. We would be shocked if one of our politicians fronted the national press gallery in a tank top, board shorts and thongs.<\/span><\/p>\n B. Appearance should not become too important. Some people are obsessive about their appearance. This is expressed in a number of ways \u2013 the time they spend whether in front of the mirror or at the shops; the amount of money they spend; the quantity of clothing they own; the status they place upon it. 1 Peter 3:3-4, <\/span>\u201c<\/i>Do not let your adornment be\u00a0merely outward\u2014arranging the hair, wearing gold, or putting on\u00a0fine apparel\u20144<\/sup>rather\u00a0let it be the hidden person of the heart, with the incorruptible\u00a0beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is very precious in the sight of God.\u201d\u00a0<\/i>Peter doesn\u2019t say (in this case for women) that it is sinful to be well presented, but rather the character is more important.<\/span><\/p>\n C. All things should be done to the glory of God (1 Cor 10:13). Each one must decide what it means to glorify God in appearance. This includes the time and money devoted to it, the particular occasion, the cultural standards, how much time and effort comparatively are given to spiritual pursuits. There are obvious issues related to modesty, jewellery and make-up \u2013 not that wearing jewellery or make-up is sinful, but in everything we need to be guided by a desire to glorify God. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Church bulletin I hate going to the shops, especially when I need to do buy clothes. It\u2019s normally a drawn-out affair in which the moaning of the children is second …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-447","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articles"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sdreformedbaptist.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/447","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sdreformedbaptist.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sdreformedbaptist.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sdreformedbaptist.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sdreformedbaptist.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=447"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/sdreformedbaptist.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/447\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":450,"href":"https:\/\/sdreformedbaptist.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/447\/revisions\/450"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sdreformedbaptist.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=447"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sdreformedbaptist.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=447"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sdreformedbaptist.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=447"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}