Word Filled Wednesday: Proverbs 31:30 "Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting; but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised."
Next week the Proverbs 31 Series comes to an end! What a joy it has been to study this lovely lady with you! We have seen her beauty shine as she serves her husband and children with every bit of strength and love she has.
As we come to verse 30, we are reminded that this chapter was written by a mother telling her son what to look for in a wife (found in Proverbs 31:1). Ladies, if you have sons - listen up to the warnings you must give your sons!
1. Charm is deceptive - Charm is the use of the womanly ways of displaying kindness, agreeableness, flattery and affection to hook a man. Then once she is married, the real woman comes out and it was all a lie. For the charming woman is not nearly as kind, agreeable or affectionate as the woman the man fell in love with. This poor husband is now trapped in this marriage that began as deception!
2. Beauty is fleeting - Men desire something beautiful to feast their eyes on and guess what ladies? God made us all with eyes, hair, and curves that please your man. But marrying a beauty will not make a great marriage! The beauty will fade and if she is not beautiful on the inside, this husband is trapped!
Remind your sons to not fall into the traps of charm and beauty! But rather remember:
"A woman who fears the Lord is to be praised."
The woman who fears the Lord will have a God conscienceness. She will be aware of God's presence in her home at all times. She will work tirelessly and sacrificially to create a home that is filled with peace, joy and comfort. This woman loves the Lord and desires to please him. She serves her husband and children because of her higher desire to please the Lord. When marriage difficulties arise, this woman remains unwavering in her faith and dedication to pleasing God. She does not respect and submit to her husband based on her husband's worthiness but out of her love and fear of the Lord. She knows when her husband is acting ugly that there is a God in heaven who loves her and whom she serves and so she presses through those difficult times remaining unwavering in her dedication to him.
This woman's faith is her beauty secret.
Her faith makes her gorgeous, desirable, praiseworthy, admirable, noble and indeed RARE!
It's the charming and beautiful women, who grace the cover of magazines. Have you seen the picture of a woman who fears the Lord on the front cover of a magazine lately! Nope? Me neither!
This world has fed us lies about beauty! And for far too long we have fallen for them! Why do we so painfully compare ourselves to these faithless, deceptively, fleeting beauties? We have been fearing man rather than fearing God.
Listen to me - your faith makes you beautiful! Your faith makes you praiseworthy! We must teach this to our sons and daughters!
Walk with the King!
I am participating in Seven Clown Circus Wordful Wednesday and Internet Cafe's Word Filled Wednesday.
Courtney! Thank you so much for writing. This is so rich and encouraging. You are awesome! Thank you!!! <3
ReplyDeleteThis is so true. When I think of the beautiful older women I know, they radiate joy in Jesus. They truly are lovely, and I want to be like them!
ReplyDeleteAmen...this was great.
ReplyDeleteI've enjoyed this series with you.
Thanks for sharing with us.
Have a blessed WFW today!
I have prayed this for my son's future wife since he was born. He is now 20 and I have often shared with friends how I worry more about him than about my 17 year old daughter. This is due to the fact that so many women are cunning and know how to tempt men, who are definitely more visual then women, and bring all sorts of chaos to their lives. May the Lord bless each of us with a virtuous woman for our sons and a God-fearing and honoring man for our daughters.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing this WFW. Have a lovely day.
Wow... your paragraph about "unwavering in her faith and dedication to pleasing God"... this whole paragraph is so rich, so wise. Thank you, Courtney. I will print this and let it impact my marriage for good!
ReplyDeleteI needed to read this this morning. Thank you Courtney.
ReplyDeleteWONDERFUL post today!
ReplyDeleteIt is definitely the heart and not outer beauty that shines. I pray that I can teach my son to see a woman for her heart and not what she looks like on the outside.
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for sharing this!
I really enjoyed what you wrote Courtney. Definitely good to remember those things. Thanks again!
ReplyDeleteBeautiful! And oh so true.
ReplyDeleteJust found your blog today, and LOVE what you shared! Can't wait to read more. So thankful to find women in Blog-land who share in the passion of Biblical womanhood!
ReplyDeleteLast night, I just realized I needed to start praying this very thing over my children, my daughteres especially: that their beauty radiate from a heart full of love for God.
ReplyDeleteThank you for this article! I especially like your reminder about our motivation for respecting our husbands - the love of God.
ReplyDeleteWOW! I definitely needed to hear this! I have two precious little boys that I need to share this with as the grow! And I know that I tend to compare myself with more worldly women. It's the pits! They are lacking the faith and confidence of a woman of the LOrd!! thank you for the wonderful post!
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for writing this!! It was a wonderful post! I totally agree with everything you said. I have two sons and two daughters and I will be teaching them both these things! For my sons to choose God fearing wives and for my daughters because they need to know where beauty really comes from!
ReplyDeleteAs the mom of three teen/tween boys I needed to hear this from the mama perspective. I so need to make sure that this is the example of biblical womanhood I show my boys through how I live.
ReplyDeleteWow, what a word! Thanks for sharing this timely message.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the encouragement.
ReplyDeleteThis is so wonderful and encouraging - thank you so very much for posting!
ReplyDeleteI just recently started to follow your blog Courtney and am very thankful that I've stumbled upon it. Your faith in God and the wisdom He teachers others is a gift to women, wives, and mothers. Thank you for serving the Lord, following his path, and sharing your journey with us.
ReplyDeleteI am excited for what's up next!!
Very ture, and great insight. Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteBeautiful post. Blessings on your day!
ReplyDeleteSuch wise words, full of God's truth! My prayer is that God would continue to mold me into the Proverbs 31 woman.
ReplyDeleteAnd from the look of your joyful picture on your blog, it looks like your husband is doubly-blessed; he has a woman striving to own Proverbs 31 who has beauty on the outside, too! ;)
I just chaperoned a senior trip and got to tell a group of young ladies what I tell my sons about choosing a wife. It was a neat moment!
ReplyDelete(I have four sons...so I totally enjoyed being with the girls for a change.)
Enjoyed your post today.
Beautiful! I am going to pray through being a Proverbs 31 woman!
ReplyDeleteI prayed for our daughters when they were young, to be Godly women and to marry men who love the Lord, and He answered my prayers. I praise God, for He does indeed make us beautiful by our faith!
ReplyDeleteThank you for these words of wisdom!
Laurie
His Word is true. Thanks for those thoughts.
ReplyDeleteHi Courtney, I linked to your post from Sheila's blog, totally a divine appointment. Between you and Teri-Lynne @ Pleasing to You, the Wifey Wednesday links this week have pinpointed exactly what God has been trying to get through to me for the past couple of weeks.
ReplyDeleteI try to mentor a small group of fellow moms in our home fellowship group, and have been feeling empty of a God message lately - and now I realize it's because I've been focussing on the "easier" aspects of Prov.31 womanhood... housework, parenting, pleasing a husband... and not nurturing the relationship with our ultimate bridegroom.
Now I have something good to offer my mom group. THANKS! :)
Well said!!!!
ReplyDeletei've been trying to watch your videos on marriage and the home and it keeps pausing. is annyone else having this problem/ i'd love to watch them but it continues to freeze up every few seconds. just wondering if anyone else has had a problem with this. love your blog, i just happened to get on it thru ''organizing the home for christ and pulled you up to add to favorites. wondering if the videos freeze up on anyone else...
ReplyDelete