1 Peter 3:3-6 - A New Easter Dress?

Scripture: 1 Peter 3:3-6

Summary: Don't worry so much about dressing up on the outside, but instead focus on your inner self.

Thoughts: It's usually around this time of year that I begin to notice how old most of my clothes are. I start to yearn to buy new clothes or a new piece of jewelry. At the very least, I tell myself, I need a new dress for Easter!  But the truth is that what we wear on the outside only impresses other people, and only for a little while. Even the best dress will get old and fall out of style. Instead this writer encourages us to "let your adornment be the inner self with the lasting beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is very precious in God's sight." It is so easy in the world in which we live, to allow ourselves to focus on external things. We all want to have pretty things around us and have nice things to wear. But what is precious to God is my inner self. That gentle spirit that can lift up others. I'm hoping this Lenten season to focus on my inner spirit, through Bible study and prayer, letting go of my desire for pretty things. I don't think that God will be impressed by a new Easter dress.  Instead I want to focus on what is precious to God, my inner self.

Prayer: God, you have already given me so many pretty things, including the budding trees and the little birds who populate them. Let that satisfy my desire for beauty, so that I can spend my time focusing on my spirit as I become closer to you, Oh God. Amen.