Hello all and welcome to “summer”! I hope everyone is doing well. I just wanted to stop by with some encouragement today. In this life we can get so caught up in how we look, what we wear, how others perceive our outward appearance, and how we want others to view us. We spend so much time making sure our eyebrows are drawn on and our shoes are spotless. We want to have the right lighting and pose for that Instagram picture. We do all of these things to get the desired attention we are looking for. The scary part about it that many people forget, it is temporary!
Ladies, how are you carrying yourself? Is it in a way that could compromise your witness? Does it cause your brothers or sisters in Christ to stumble or fall into lust? Are you showing people Jesus in your daily life or showing people you know every word to Bodak Yellow?
Gentlemen, how do you carry yourself? Are you kind and gentle? Do you treat women with respect? Does your every day life represent Jesus or is that only on your Instagram? Would people even know that you help out with Children’s Church every week?
For both parties, if you never told anyone you were a Christian, would people be able to see Jesus in your life?
The Bible says a woman that fears the LORD is to be praised. Not a woman that has long straight hair or is well endowed. Ladies, don’t be deceived in thinking that your looks and showing off a little skin will get you the appropriate attention and a respectable husband. We expect people to treat us with respect yet we don’t even treat ourselves with respect. Men, be careful of the women you are trying to pursue. Don’t expect and faithful and God-fearing woman if she primarily gains her attention from the world and temporary things. If I am coming across judgemental I apologize and that is not my intention. We, however, get caught up in this filtered world and we wonder why our relationships are shallow and why we continue to date crazy people. As followers of Christ, our standard should be Him. If they don’t live out Jesus, then we need to stay clear of them. We can’t be shocked when their craziness starts coming out because we failed to have or uphold Godly standards.
*side note: You could be all covered up and living righteously and still have someone come at you in a crazy and disrespectful way. I’m not talking about that. I’m saying for us as believers, we should be carrying ourselves differently than the world. When we look like the world, we cannot get upset with the type of people we are attracting and why people will perceive you in an ungodly way.*
We are praising the wrong stuff. We get excited when we see people flaunting their bodies. When we see people covered up, we instead try to convince them that people need to see their body. I know I’ve been guilty of that and it’s not right. We should be encouraging one another to be men and women that fear the Lord. Why are you encouraging each other to look like the world?
It is tough. And this battle between flesh and spirit is so real but don’t lose heart. Stay strong and allow The Father to comfort you and transform your mind. He he so much in store for you when you finally let go of the outward and embrace His love.
I pray you all have a great week. I will talk to you later.
Byyyyeee!!!
~Meghan A. Harper
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