Wednesday, May 14, 2014

What is Valuable to God?

The more we have, materially speaking, the less value we put on things. If you have 10 pairs of black shoes, (after 44 years of marriage, David still doesn't understand why women need so many pairs of black shoes; he has 2) then buying another pair of black shoes means very little to you, right? And of course women can never have too many pairs of black shoes. After all, they go with everything! But what if you only had one pair of black shoes? Wouldn't you take better care of them, not throw them to the back of your closet, or walk through all that water and mud? My point is, many times the less we have, the more value we place on what we possess. And when there are an abundance of things in our lives, they tend to be less valuable.

Now, imagine all that God has? Stop reading and make a list, (mental or on paper) of all the things that we know God possesses; impossible?? It would be a long list, right? And impressive.

When God Created the World, (title of my children's book!!) He placed value on all of His creation when He spoke the words, "It is good." (Genesis 1 and 2). And from that moment, time began, and God saw His creation as having value and worth. But after creation, after the moon and stars were placed in the heavens and each planet set on it's rotation, the sun placed firmly in the far end of the galaxy and living things began to grow and multiply on our earth, God doesn't speak much about what He considers to be of value. That is until He makes a discreet and poignant statement in 1 Peter 3. Beginning in v1, God shares His heart with us about women. It is very important to Him how we look, what we wear, and how we conduct ourselves.

Some of you have shared with me your desire for your husband to become a believer, and some have shared how you pray that your husband will "step up" and be the spiritual leader in your home. In v1, God makes you this promise; it is possible for your husband to become a believer by your "behavior". (KJV, conversation.) God promises in v1 that women who are married to an un-believing husband can "win her husband as he observes the behavior of his wife." And I believe a woman can help develop her husband's leadership skills by her "behavior".

So ladies, what kind of "behavior" inspires a man to seek God's leadership for his family?
What kind of "behavior" brings conviction to a man's heart and moves him to accept Christ as Savior?

The answer begins in v2: "chaste conduct". (virtuous, morally pure) A wife with "chaste conduct" isn't looking for the approval of other men. A wife with "chaste conduct" is busy feeding her spirit (last post) and as her husband "observes" (beholds) how she lives her life, day in and day out, the Holy Spirit begins to bring conviction to his heart and he accepts Christ. "Chaste conduct" creates less stress in your marriage and in your home, and clears things out of the way, so to speak, so the Holy Spirit has the freedom to work in that home and in the lives of all who live there.

Respect. (fear,v2) Your husband wants and needs respect, especially yours, and when you show him your respect, and see to it that your children do, too, he will be much more open to your witness of the Savior's love and His desire that your husband become a Christian. I shared with you in an earlier post of 2 ladies in my church when I was growing up who modeled these verses for me, and I saw God faithfully keep His promise. Their chaste conduct and their respect did more to win their husbands than any sermon could ever do.

And now the hard part.......what we wear determines how we are treated. If I want to be taken seriously and treated with respect, then I need to take how I dress seriously and show respect to myself and my family by dressing appropriately. And as Christian women, no one needs to tell you or me what is appropriate or what is in-appropriate for us to wear. All we have to do is ask God and He will tell us!! The girls in our lives are watching us and they will take their cue from us. (Titus 2)

Now the good part:
Look at the last part of v4; when God sees a woman with "chaste conduct", showing "respect" to her husband, "dressing appropriately", and then she adds to that a "meek (gentle) and quiet spirit" "in God's sight it is of great price." (great price means valuable) A woman with a meek and quiet spirit is attractive to God, but she is also attractive to others. Isn't that amazing??? The One Who created every single thing, The One Who owns it all, considers "chaste conduct", "respect", "modest dress", and a "meek and quiet spirit" as VALUABLE!! He doesn't say that about a man, He doesn't say that about gold, silver or precious gems, He doesn't say that about anything else in creation; He saved that honor for you and me dear sister in Christ.

I encourage you today to meditate on those 4 things; chaste conduct, respect, what we wear, and meek and quiet spirit, and ask God to reveal areas of your personal life that need His special attention. If these 4 things are so valuable to God, shouldn't they be valuable to us? And shouldn't they be things that Christian women strive for in our lives? And after you've meditated on them for a while, ask your husband what HE thinks about these 4 things. It just might be a real conversation starter about spiritual things and lead to some changes in your home and marriage.And that's a good thing.

Have a great day and thanks so much for the many great responses from the last blog. New followers from Belarus, Sweden, and New Zealand!! Thanks for reading.

I think David needs another pair of black shoes, don't y'all???

Love You!!
Penny

And 1 more thing; my book, When God Created the World can now be ordered through our Lifeway stores or at lifeway.com. I hope you'll get a copy for the little ones in your life. Thanks!!