A Woman Who Fears the LORD

Proverbs 31:30
“Charm is deceitful and beauty is passing,
But a woman who fears the LORD, she shall be praised.”

I want to be a woman who fears the LORD. I want my thoughts to be more and more on Christ, and less on the temporal, fleeting pleasures of the world. There is so much to distract us in our culture. Lisa wrote a good post the other day that really echoes some thoughts I’ve had rattling around in my mind for quite some time (and I truly hope she doesn't mind me linking to her again). I am in this world. But I am not to be of it. There are things in the world that I enjoy that are not specifically “Christian.” For example, I watch movies, though I’m pretty selective in what I’ll watch, because I do not need to be filling my mind with things that will damage my walk with the Lord or will make it harder to keep my mind pure and live a life that pleases Him. I know when something I’m watching is something that is not edifying, and I’ve learned to turn it off and walk away from those things that cause me to stumble. Not every book I read is a theological or “Christian” book. I like to read novels. Lots of them. Again, I’m fairly selective in the kinds of things I let my mind focus on, but no, not everything is written by Christian authors or even necessarily from a specifically Christian worldview. And not everyone might agree with my choices – these are matters of conscience, so I’m fairly quiet on those kinds of things on my blog. To be honest, much “Christian fiction” that I’ve read is just so badly written that I’d rather read a good “secular” book I’ve gotten from the library. But I am careful in my selections, too. When my heart is devoted to my Savior, I’m able to see moral and spiritual lessons even in books or movies where the author didn’t intend to be giving them. I learned that in school while reading assigned works. My worldview informs how I view everything I read and see and do – whether in work or in play – and I don’t have to pull out into a completely sanitized subculture, but I do find a need to be discerning.

I also don’t blog a whole lot about fads, TV shows, or even the books I’m reading. Not that I never write about such things or that I’m not interested in them or that I think it is wrong for people to write about them, but when I write, I’d rather write about the things that matter most to me, the things I think the most and the most deeply about. It isn’t that I’m trying to hide the more frivolous things, either. They just aren’t all that important to me. If I’m going to take the time to write things out, I’d rather they be more meaningful, for the most part. Though I do watch some TV and some movies and read quite a bit, I want the character of my life to be such that the things I think about the absolute most are the important things. I don’t think there is anything wrong with enjoying a good book or a TV show or a movie now and then, with the exercise of discernment in choosing such things, but the perspective must be that none of those things even come close in importance compared to worshiping the Lord. In light of that, all else is not very important at all.

I was convicted the other day while wasting too much time reading blog after blog that much of what I’m reading is just chatter. Even a lot of the Christian blogging is really just talk, talk, talk that ends up being wasted time. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with the more lighthearted and fun part of the blog chatter in and of itself, but it can be wrong when I let it eat up too much of my day that ought to be spent doing more meaningful things. Though not all my blogging is serious, I’d like the bulk of my writing to be something more. I’m trying to determine what I want to accomplish with my blogging. I enjoy the "just for fun" stuff and the friendships that forges, and that is a good part of blogging as long as it doesn't eat up time I need to spend on my real life where I put feet and action to the words I think and type. But I have also learned a lot from having to think through many of my posts while writing them and searching the scriptures to clarify my thinking. I’ve also learned a great deal and been encouraged to think by other bloggers, though I have significantly lessened the time I spend reading them lately. I guess what I’m getting at here is that I don’t want the main part of my blogging to only be adding to the meaningless chatter, but I’d like a good deal of what I’m doing be to help myself to continue to grow in Christ and to be edifying to believers and thought-provoking to someone who may not yet know Christ, otherwise I’m really just wasting time and should just turn off the blog altogether.

So, I want the character of my life to be that I am seeking Christ’s kingdom first. I want the words I say and write to be the overflow of a heart that is devoted to Him. When my heart is longing to seek Him, that is what matters most. I even want my blogging to be an overflow of those thoughts I think most. Even when writing about everyday things, I want to there to be more love to Christ expressed in the daily walk of my life, not compartmentalizing my life into “Christian” and “secular” but letting a biblical, Christ-centered worldview be evident in all I do, even in the everyday stuff of life.

Also, in our culture it is so very tempting to get caught up in the outward appearance. Stand in the grocery store line and you’ll see tons of magazines and so much ink spilled to waste time on the latest celebrity gossip or the latest fad to seek after that fleeting thing called “beauty.” More empty chatter – pages and pages of meaningless chatter. But so much of what the culture sees as beautiful is false. Nip and tuck plastic beauty, diet fads that are not healthy, make-up tips, immodest clothing, expensive showplace homes, fancy cars, boats and toys, and celebrity are offered up as the end-all-be-all of the American dream existence. And too much time spent perusing that empty chatter can skew a woman’s perspective on true beauty. But those celebrities don’t seem very happy to me. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve gone home and cried for them over the emptiness that they seem to mask behind their plastic smiles. So many of the “beautiful people” are so terribly lost. They have “arrived” with wealth and fame and beauty, but they live broken, empty lives that they try to fill with all kinds of activities, relationships, babies, stuff, charities and vices. And that is the lie women buy into. They need a Savior, not the next article on how to spice up a boring life.

Charm is deceitful and beauty is vain. It is all emptiness if all we seek is the approval of the world and outward, skin-deep beauty. True beauty is reflected in the character of a woman who fears the LORD and walks humbly with her God. I heard someone say that if you want to be a godly older woman, you start investing in that lifestyle now. You begin to live godly now. You don’t just wake up one day as that woman, it comes from walking daily with the LORD. I want to be a woman who fears the LORD. I want to be a woman who will bring that hope to others who need to know Jesus. That is a life that has meaning. A life that seeks His kingdom first. I want to be different from all the chatter. I don’t want my life to be characterized by the latest fad or spin my wheels seeking after earthly, fleeting, temporal things. I want to be content and satisfied in the joy of serving the King, Jesus, my Redeemer, Savior, and Lord.