1 Peter 3

Unfading Beauty

10:49 PM



“Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as elaborate hairstyles and the wearing of gold jewellery or fine clothes. Rather, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight.”
1 Peter 3:3-4 NIV

This past year has been a year of tremendous challenge for me. I have had to really examine my heart and admit to myself a stronghold of weakness. I have had to admit to and ask God for forgiveness. My realization and admission: I am vain. I have put way too much of my self worth in my outward appearance. Circumstances, however, have challenged me to come to terms with my vanity and deal with it. This year I have had to undergo treatment for a non-healing lesion on the very tip of my nose. Although the biopsy was a comfort because it ruled out cancer, the results were still concerning to my doctor because I had a thick growth of pre-cancer cells that could potentially convert to cancer. This year I have been through freezing of the lesion and 3 rounds of using chemo ointment to kill off the abnormal cells. Because I work in a public capacity, I have had to wear a mask or bandaid to cover my nose.  This has gone on for so long that I often forget unless someone asks me “ What happened to your nose.?” Although I wish I had not had to deal with this, a part of me is grateful because God has helped me to put more value on my inner worth and less on my outer. 

God tells us in the Bible that He doesn’t want us to put our identity in anything other than Him. When we interact with others, He wants the focus of others to be on the beauty of our spirit and not the adornments of our outer appearance. When I walk into a hospital room to care for a patient at work, I have learned to not be so concerned about my appearance. I don’t represent myself, I represent Christ and His service to others. And you know, people respond positively to genuine love, kindness, and concern. They respond to the love of Christ. 

Every role we have in life is an opportunity to serve and shine for Jesus. We never know how God can use us to positively impact others. The verse that I chose actually comes from a passage in the Bible talking about husbands and wives. When a wife’s inner beauty touches the heart of her unbelieving husband, it provides an opportunity for him to see Christ reflected in her character. “Wives, in the same way submit yourselves to your own husbands so that, if any of them do not believe the word, they may be won over without words by the behaviour of their wives, when they see the purity and reverence of your lives.”1 Peter 3:1-2
Wow, that’s powerful! I am grateful and blessed to be married to a believing husband and God has loved on me through him. No matter what changes to my outer appearance have occurred over the many years we’ve been together, I always feel that his love for me is rooted in his love for who I am as a person and not on my looks. It has been so helpful to have that kind of acceptance. That’s how God loves us and how he wants us to love each other. Who knows what seeds we may plant in the heart of a non-believer when the beauty of God's love is expressed through our love for others.

Self-image is important on many levels. God desires for us to have a healthy self-image. It’s self-defeating, however, to build your self worth on what is perishable and fleeting. If you choose to do so, you will struggle with anxieties, obsessions, disappointments and fears. When you focus, instead, on the beauty of Christ changing you from the inside, you will find the opposite occurs. God will strengthen and encourage you and reveal to you a lasting acceptance that never fades away. 
“So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day.” 2 Cor 4:16

I hope my story is encouraging to someone struggling with embarrassment or social anxieties that come from concern about outward appearance. I would love to know your experiences too.

Other verses to explore. 

1 Peter

On Submission and Peacemaking {1 Peter 3}

4:48 AM



In 1 Peter 2:13-17, Peter advised readers to have such good behaviour that unbelievers will have nothing bad to say about the gospel. Peter admonishes us all to be subject, for the Lord’s sake, to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme, or to governors as set by him. In other words, keep the speed limits, pay your taxes, and be respectful toward policemen and senators.

Then in 2:18–25, Peter addresses the household servants (oiketai) in the church and admonishes them to be submissive to their masters with all respect, both to the kind and to the overbearing.

To set a good example, Christians should submit to civil authorities, and slaves should submit to their masters. He now continues this theme by addressing wives and husbands.

“Wives, in the same way submit yourselves to your own husbands so that, if any of them do not believe the word, they may be won over without words by the behaviour of their wives, when they see the purity and reverence of your lives” (1 Peter 3:1-2).

When Peter says “in the same way,” he means that women are to submit just as men should, each to the appropriate authorities. 

Women by setting a God example can cause husbands to see that God’s grace makes wives to be cooperative rather than rebellious, that way they may be more willing to listen to the gospel, and eventually follow their wives into the faith.

A changed life speaks loudly and clearly, and it is often the most effective way to influence husbands who are not born again (or any other family member for that matter).



Peter’s next advice: “Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as elaborate hairstyles and the wearing of gold jewellery or fine clothes. Rather, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit” (verses 3-4).

This does not mean that Christian women should be sloppy; it is great to look after one self and look one’s best but is far more important to develop an inner spirit of godliness. True beauty begins inside.

Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting;
    but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised.- (Prov 31:30)

The Wider Virtue Of Submission

In Peter 3:1–6, Peter instructs the wives to be submissive to their husbands, including the husbands who are unbelieving. Then, in verse 7, he instructs husbands to live considerately with their wives as fellow heirs of the grace of life. Finally, in 3:8–12, Peter tells the whole church to have unity and sympathy and love and tender-heartedness and humility toward one another, and not to return evil for evil. In other words, submit to each other and serve each other. So, as we saw in Ephesians 5, submission is a wider Christian virtue for all of us to pursue, and it has its unique and fitting expressions in various relationships.
What submission is:
Submission is voluntarily cooperating with someone, first out of love and respect for God and then out of the love and respect for that person. Submitting to unbelievers can prove difficult, but once again it is a vital part of leading them to Jesus Christ. We are not called to submit to nonbelievers to the point that we compromise our relationship with God, but we must look for every opportunity to humbly service in the power of God’s spirit.

1 Peter 3 (VS 8-22)

Responding to evil …Called to be peacemakers




In verse 8, Peter gives a general appeal to all the believers: “All of you, be like-minded, be sympathetic, love one another, be compassionate and humble. Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult. On the contrary, repay evil with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing” (verses 8-9).
If someone treats us wrong, we are to respond by doing good, not by getting revenge. God set the example for us by doing good to us even though we had done evil to him. Peter supports this advice by quoting Psalm 34:12-16: “Whoever would love life and see good days must keep their tongue from evil and their lips from deceitful speech. They must turn from evil and do good; they must seek peace and pursue it” (1 Peter 3:10-11).

Too often we see peace as merely the absence of conflict, and we think of peacemaking as a passive role. But an effective peacemaker actively pursues peace. He or she builds good relationships, knowing that peace is a by-product of commitment.
The peacemaker anticipates problems and deals with them before they occur. When conflicts arise, he or she brings them into the open and deals with them before they grow unmanageable.

Making peace is hard work, but it results in God’s blessings.

Peter has already pointed out that Jesus did not retaliate with threats against his persecutors (2:22-23); here he repeats the need for us to keep our words and our actions in control. Peter asks, “Who is going to harm you if you are eager to do good?” (3:13). Unfortunately, some people persecute those who do good, so Peter adds, “But even if you should suffer for what is right, you are blessed” (verse 14). Persecution itself is not a blessing, but God rewards those who suffer unjustly.
Have a blessed weekend!


Angie