What does the Bible say
about appearance, does God care about how we dress? Contrary to what many
people believe and say, God cares about what we wear and how we live our lives.
This He showed to us in the book of Genesis after the fall of man. Adam and eve
having realized the evil they have done and seeing
themselves naked, covered themselves with leaves. When God came, He killed an
animal and used the skin to cover them, signifying that God wants us to cover
our bodies properly.
We are created in the
image of God and we must show forth His glory. The Bible detailed out how God
created man differently from all other creatures. When God was about creating
man He said “Let us make man in our image and after our likeness.” That is not
a mere saying. It is a call to create a special being that is closest to God.
He created all things visible and invisible, yet He wants a being that will
look just like Him. The Bible later recorded that “So God created man in his
image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them” The
Psalmist in Psalm 139:14 shed more light on this by saying we are fearfully and
wonderfully made.
God followed up the issue
of dressing and appearance with the children of Israel when He brought them out
of the land of Egypt. He did not want them to pattern their lives after the
Egyptians among whom they have lived for over 400 years. He stated how they
should dress and what they should wear. He clearly stated that there should be
a demarcation between men and women dressing. He discouraged cross-dressing in
its totality. “The woman shall not wear that which pertains to a man, neither
shall a man put on a woman’s garment.”
God Wants Us to Be Like Him in Holiness
As we see in many Bible
verses, one major attribute of God is holiness. He is so holy that the Bible
records that even the angels in heaven are not pure before him. Now if God in whose image we were created can
be so holy, what would he expect from us? The same nature of holiness of
course. Many people believe that we should not look shabbily and we must always
appear in the way that people of the world will not look down upon us or
despise us. By that, they believe women, in particular, should put on outward
adornments like gold, or pearls, or costly things that will make them appear
beautiful. They believe doing that is showing the glory of God.
The truth is that God’s
definition of beauty is different from our own. While man looks at the outward
appearance, God looks at the heart. In Samuel 16, the Lord said to Samuel when
he wanted to anoint a king from the house of Jesse not be carried away with an
outward appearance that can be deceptive. He said “Look not on his countenance,
or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him:”
We like celebrating
physical beauty and see it as what should be desired, but the Bible says in
Proverbs 31:30 “Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting, but a woman who
fears the Lord is to be praised.” The female He created in the garden of Eden
was a helpmate, to complement the efforts of Adam so that the two of them can
fulfill God’s purpose on earth.
Man sees the man from the
outside, but God sees man from the inside. Wearing of gold jewelry, fine
clothes, braided hair, and such likes mean nothing to God. What He wants is the
beauty of a gentle spirit. God desires the gentle and quiet spirit that will
acknowledge Him as God and surrender to His will at all times. No matter what
intelligence, beauty, or natural endowment man may have, he is just an image.
In the image of God he was created, he cannot be above that.
The Role of Church
Unfortunately, very few
churches are guilty of the sin of not showing the qualities of good characters
that the Bible describes as the beauty that God desires. The church today is
behaving like the scribes and the Pharisees that Jesus condemned in Matthew 23.
They know the law and the will of God, but not only that they refused to do
them, but they also discouraged people who would have loved to do them. It is a
sad situation that has to change if the Spirit of God must return to the
Church. If the modern church will experience another Pentecost and do great
exploit for God like the Apostles of Old.
To be the church is to show forth Christ Jesus
in all His glory. God uses the church to be His public display. His glory
dwells within the church. As we grow up in Christ we become more and more like
Him. His example of life is the life we should live. We should continue to show
the world, and in particular, ourselves, how we walk with the Lord. God wants
to be glorified. He wants to be recognized as the God of the universe. His
glory and majesty must be seen. It was for this purpose that Christ came. He
came to die and to live again. He has fulfilled His purpose. The purpose of
Christ is to be glorified. The glory of Christ is to be seen and felt and
known. The church is to be Christ’s light and His display. We cannot be another
person’s display.
The bottom line is that
you must see yourself as God’s image and present yourself so. Princes and
princesses don’t live like commoners because they know they are not one. To
appear in a way that is contrary to God’s will is to live unworthily of the
glorious life that God has called us unto by making us share his glory. We need
to understand that it is only by following God’s instructions alone that we can
be fulfilled, joyful, and prosper in life. It is time to quit doing things our
way. Quit following what is right in our minds, and do what God expects of us.