Proverbs 11: 22-23
Have you ever had someone say to you, “I didn’t know you were a Christian?” You’re left thinking to yourself, “hum… Is that a good thing or a bad thing?” I don’t know about you but I start doing a mental checklist of my attitudes, and conversations. I think to myself, “did I say something that may have turned someone off from knowing Christ?” OR “was I so thoughtful and kind that they could see Christ in me?” I’m definitely shooting for the latter part of that.
22 “Like a gold ring in a pig’s snout so is a beautiful woman who shows no discretion.”
I can read this two different ways and both still apply, discretion is the word that sticks out to me the most. It may as well have been written in bold letters, it’s the meat of this particular scripture. What good is a beautiful person or a Christian that spews offensive things or acts in a way that doesn’t match what we preach? The God that we so passionately want others to know about doesn’t look to appealing when those things happen.
In the Jewish culture it was a common ornament for women to wear nose rings, however they thought of pigs as unclean and filthy, so why put something that was meant for beauty on something filthy. One of these things just doesn’t belong here. Your beauty is wasted without discretion, what happened to our sense of responsibility? Beauty isn’t a bad thing, God created it. Queen Esther is a perfect example of what it means to have beauty and discretion. Because she listened to God, used integrity and made good decisions, God used her to help free her people.
23 “The godly can look forward to a reward, while the wicked can expect only judgement.”
When you desire to live a life of integrity and good decisions God rewards you. However, when you don’t live by what Christ says then it only leads to angry frustration.
It’s not always easy to be a Christ follower, but it is rewarding!