“Favor is deceitful, and beauty is vain; but a woman that feareth the Lord, she shall be praised.” Proverbs 31:30
Our weekly Christian devotional
The summer rays scorched Nicole’s pale shoulders. Smearing sunblock on them, she jogged quickly towards North Avenue Beach.
It was the first game of the season and Nicky had been preparing for this day for months. Not only was her body in phenomenal shape but her skills were also sharper than last season’s. Nicole was more than ready to show both of them off.
“There she is! The North Avenue goddess!” Ryan whistled loudly; all eyes within hearing distance turned to see what the commotion was about.
Nicole acted as if she was embarrassed by all the attention but she relished it. Everybody on the team knew it.
Leslie rolled her eyes and spiked the ball in Nicky’s direction. She was hoping to put Nicky in her place, or at the very least–mess up her perfect hair!
Nicole tossed her head back as if she were in a commercial, widening her eyes in mock surprise. The ball missed her by an inch but that didn’t stop three male beach goers from rushing to her rescue.
Leslie’s jealous revenge backfired miserably.
To Nicole, the world was her stage. And if she wasn’t the star of the show, it wasn’t a very good day. At least today was a good day. But…what about tomorrow?
In Proverbs 31:30 we are reminded of a fact we all know: physical beauty fades with time. And, although we may be privy to the obvious, many woman still seem to bank a little too much on our ever-fading commodities.
It’s hard not to get sucked into the lie that attractiveness for a female isn’t important. The news dominating headlines continually remind us that being beautiful is equal to being valuable.
What a terrible investment to put all your stock on something as fleeting and shallow as physical beauty! As a ‘typical’ American female, I can’t say that I haven’t been impacted by this gross distortion myself.
What do you want to be remembered for? The beauty that you had on the outside; or the beauty that you made others feel on their insides? Now, that’s something worth thinking about.
“Dear Heavenly Father,
This world is so superficial. I am so superficial. God, help me!
When I look in the mirror sometimes all I see are the sum of my parts. I forget that there is something deeper than the surface of my skin…and that is my soul.
I have gone through such extremes taking care of my outside, but in that process, my soul has been neglected. Perhaps that’s why I barely consider taking my soul into account when I think of my self-worth.
Lord, I have become imbalanced. I have put myself on a pedestal. I have worshiped myself as a god because I am the first thing I think about when I wake up and the last thing I think about when I go to bed.
This is shameful. Please forgive me for my selfishness. Help me to see beyond me.
Open up my eyes to see the gifts that are just waiting to be birthed if I will get out of my own way.
There is more to this life than making myself better. I could invest in bringing out the best in others while allowing you to change me.
In Jesus’ precious name, help me to do just that. Amen.”
Thank you for reading our weekly Christian devotional on verse: Proverbs 31:30
Please check back and see what we have for you next week!
Author: Julia Shalom Jordan