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Charm and ...

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

          I guess if we’re going to follow Biblegateway’s addition of the beginning of the discussion of the Proverb’s 31 woman, we may as well follow them in looking at the conclusion. I’ll begin with the fact that while this verse is discussing women, it is just as true of men.

          With that said, yesterday when we discussed nobility, part of the discussion was about being cultured. I didn’t use the word, but refined also comes to mind. Now today, Solomon’s mother claims that charm is deceptive. Is this a reversal of what was said before? If not, why not? What is the difference between being noble, cultured, or refined and being charming?

          One difference may be follow-through. Nobility does not offer what one is not going to give or does not have to give. Nobility seeks to rise to higher ideals. Nobility turns its focus outward. Nobility is about doing good and being good.  Charm is the opposite. One charms a snake, or a person, to gain power over it. The goal is to bend it to your will. That’s why it’s deceptive.

          As for beauty being fleeting, all one needs to do to prove that is investigate the number of rounds of plastic surgery, Botox treatments, and other “interventions” used by celebrities and others to create or maintain their beauty. Billions of dollars are spent for this purpose. I’m not opposed to the use of makeup, and I know they earn their living based on their looks, but if beauty were not fleeting, it would not be needed.

          That brings us to the third concept in today’s passage. A woman (or man) who fears the Lord will be praised. Why? Are we to fear God the same way we fear being raped, or being attacked by whatever difficulty or creature haunts your imagination? Or, is fearing the Lord more about not trying to invade His place, about not trying to take His throne, and working within the parameters He has set? The latter seems a more productive sort of fear, the sort that leads to wisdom and benefit, if we would only actually do it.

 

 

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