Let’s start this by saying wearing makeup isn’t an issue. Clothes are not the issue. It’s looking beneath the surface of these topics and everything we see on the outside. God looks at the heart, and today, I want us to really look at our heart, our entire self, the temple of where Jesus should be.
I wrote this about two years ago, and knew it was time to share on UnAshamed. I have updated the post just a little bit.
I can’t say the number of times I’ve heard women and teen girls talk about how makeup or clothes make them feel confident, and we have a major problem with this.
Looking Like Everyone Else…
One of the first times that I heard a discussion about clothes and confidence, as a teen, had to do with choir robes. I was 13 or 14 years old when, at a ladies’ retreat, a woman tells this sob story about how a teen choir had old robes. The teens felt “ashamed” or “embarrassed” when they went to competitions with other choirs and saw how lovely the other choirs’ robes were because they were newer. From what I remember, the old robes looked okay. Outdated, maybe…but they looked fine. She went on to talk about a lot of money that was raised for newer robes, and it was thousands of dollars. People clapped around us, and I was confused.
What happened with the focus on robes showed me a couple of things, as a teen, I was concerned with:
- Covetousness, Envy, & Jealousy
- Wrong Focus, We Are Not To Be Like Everyone Else
- A Loss Of An Opportunity To Encourage Youth On What It Means To Be Christlike.
- Entitlement / Lack Of Humility
Clothes do not last forever. New clothes can be fun and exciting. Again, I’m not against this. But shopping is a privilege we often forget so many do not have. When we start to find worth in our blessings and privileges, we have a problem. In the life we live, it’s easy to take the things we have for granted. I forget the hundreds of millions of people who do not have the blessing of clean drinking water, a roof over their heads, or not having enough food.
The temptation to focus on what we do not have and what we want more of is real.
Our world is plastered in luxury. Do we realize that the fact we have trends and can choose to participate in them or not shows what a privilege this is?
Makeup and clothes are supposed to make us “happy.” They are sold to the masses as a way to “feel better” and “be more confident.” But we need to understand this… ultimately makeup and clothes are all about profit. We are only $ to the world, an asset to be used.
How many services are being pitched to the masses to look, feel, and be a certain way?
The Outside Issue & Missing Heart Piece
The issue is makeup gets washed off and clothes are not permanently attached to our soul. Despite the statement of clothes making up the person, people remain feeling empty. Scripture warns us about this.
(NIV) Matthew 12:33-34, “Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will never fail, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
The world showers us with temptations to lure us into a yoke of bondage with them. A slavery to be bonded to what we are attached to. We submit to it. We allow its presence in our life. ← Remember this.
Are we ruled by clothes, makeup, trends, and pressures of others? Do we let money become a determinate in our joy?
Even if we don’t have the money, makeup, fashion, or other things, our personality should be seen. Creative people are still creative without a canvas. Words, ideas, thoughts, and more all show who we are deep inside.
(ESV) 1 Peter 3:01-04, “Likewise, wives, be subject to your own husbands, so that even if some do not obey the word, they may be won without a word by the conduct of their wives, when they see your respectful and pure conduct. 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.”
1 Peter chapter 3 points out that outward conduct is connected to our internal state, similarly we see Christ point out in the Gospels, too. What we store up within, will make an outward appearance. What should be the most beautiful part of us is our heart, soul, mind, and strength for Christ. This is not only precious to the Lord, but this glorying of Him with our life affects those around us who are watching, especially husbands. (Regarding submission to husbands, and is it ever good to not submit? Please see how Mike Winger covers the topic: “Wives Submit” What It Really Means | Mike Winger)
Who we are on the inside is what God cares about. He wants to see His Son in us. Jesus taught us that what matters the most on the inside will show itself on the outside. Jesus is Who our heart (soul/life) needs. The truth of Jesus is what should be stored in our heart, and it should affect every part of our lives, including how we look.
(NIV) Matthew 23:26, “Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean.”
Jesus paid the price for us. We don’t pay the price for Him.
(NIV) Isaiah 55:01, “Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost.”
(NLT) John 6:27, “But don’t be so concerned about perishable things like food. Spend your energy seeking the eternal life that the Son of Man can give you. For God the Father has given Me the seal of His approval.”
True Confidence That Does Not Get Stripped Off
Our modern society tempts us to be focused on the outside. It encourages us to have an “outside confidence.” Let me tell you, if our confidence comes from the outside, then it is a confidence that easily is stripped away. Confidence not found in the rock but in the sand.
(NIV) Ephesians 3:12, “In Him and through faith in Him we may approach God with freedom and confidence.” (Jesus alone is our confidence, and only those who put their faith in Him have this confidence.)
(ESV) 2 Corinthians 3:-03-04, “And you show that you are a letter from Christ delivered by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts. Such confidence we have through Christ toward God.”
If Jesus gives us confidence and boldness that we could approach the throne of God, then that’s a promise this same confidence will help us to be able to stand against the world. The true beauty we need to focus on is repentance and surrender to Jesus. Walking in His light is surrender from pleasing our flesh to following Christ’s ways, and repentance from sin. ← (Remember what I said earlier about bondage?)
(NIV) 1 John 1:07, “But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, His Son, purifies us from all sin.”
The truth is we will be in bondage to something or someone in our lives. We have a choice in what we choose to be in bondage to. Seeking self-strength or self-fulfillment and happiness will always leave us empty. A yoke that is heavy to bear.
Jesus, unlike the world, puts the yoke upon Himself. He helps steady us to follow His ways. He not only paid the price, but He stands with us, where we are.
(NIV) Matthew 11:28- 30 “Come to Me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”
Makeup & Clothes Are Okay But…
Please be willing to look at where your source of confidence and joy is. Be willing to seek Jesus and ask Him to help you let go of things you think you need to be confident in. He will and can transform your old ways.
Bondage in Christ is freedom from the world, the flesh.
The Gospel message is good news, which means there’s bad news. We all are sinners and condemned. We all deserve the just punishment of God’s wrath. But Jesus, One Person of the Trinity, became God in the flesh, the God-Man. He was always perfect and sinless. And His humanity was perfected on the cross, living the full sinless life.
He became our atonement sacrifice. Dying in our place, taking on the wrath of God upon Himself – remember the yoke? He died on the cross, and He was resurrected because death could not hold Him.
Jesus is the answer. We as guilty sinners who need His blood to pay off our debt of sin. For all who put their faith in Him – meaning eyes are opened to the Gospel, we see ourselves as a sinner, we see the need for Christ, we desire our Savior, and we see the ugliness of our sin. Putting our faith in Jesus, we seek HIs forgiveness and repent from our sins, we turn away from our old way of life.
We, through the work of the Holy Spirit, continue to become convicted of sin daily. Our eyes will never be the same again. We see things in a different light, and the truth of Christ affects how we live and serve Him.
This is why the tag for UnAshamed Christian Housewife is…
Submitting to Christ is everything.
–To learn more about what Jesus did on the cross and why His atonement sacrifice is so needed please see: Why Did A Loving God Kill His Son? (Does God Hate?)
*If you do not know the Gospel, do not turn away. If you think you know the Gospel, check out these questions and see how prepared you are for the day someone might ask you why you believe: The Gospel Challenge (30 Question Quiz) – Are You Ready To Defend Your Faith?
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Reblogged this on and commented:
It’s been a few years since I touched up this post. Updated a little, and posted over on UnAshamed. 🙂
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