Moment of Meditation: Moderation (1 Timothy 2:9)

Likewise also that women should adorn themselves in respectable apparel,
with modesty and self-control,
not with braided hair and gold or pearls or costly attire
(1 Timothy 2:9)

Moderation

Paul continues his thought with a call for moderation in how a woman presents herself. Image is everything, but beauty is only skin deep. That's what the world tries to tell our girls as they grow up. It's only the outside that matters. That men want a woman who is voluptuous yet dense. That men are only interested in a woman's outside.

This leads girls to want to be Cinderella. Not the girl who was beautiful inside and out even in the rags as she scrubbed the kitchen floor on her hands and knees. They want the beautiful princess that the Fairy Godmother makes her into. The woman who walks into the room and everyone stares at her.

God doesn't want that. God wants His daughters to be Cinderella before the Fairy Godmother enters. The girl who had a beautiful spirit and didn't need the elegant trappings of those who tried to make themselves look better. God calls for this moderation in all His daughters so that He can give them His blessings. True beauty, as God sees it, is on the inside. Image is nothing. Beauty isn't skin deep. It shines through the skin from the inside. That's the beautiful self-control God calls His children to exercise. Amen.