Our Lives as Testaments

November 12, 2008

I Peter 3:1-4

“The same goes for you wives: Be good wives to your husbands, responsive to their needs. There are husbands who, indifferent as they are to any words about God, will be captivated by your life of holy beauty. What matters is not your outer appearance—the styling of your hair, the jewelry you wear, the cut of your clothes—but your inner disposition.”

Feminist that I am, it is often hard for me to get past words that insert submission and the idea of my giving authority of myself over to any other human. In fact, the idea begins to make my blood boil! These words begin to stir up such anger in me and then I realize that I am called to understand the context.

In the culture that was Peter’s there was apparently some sort of social problem going on between the church and Roman society. The Romans looked poorly on their wives and slaves being enticed toward cults as they may well have perceived Christianity. To that end, Peter felt it necessary to address these particular groups.

Peter is writing expressly to women who find themselves in marital relationships where the husband is not a Christian and his mission is to help the women find a way to demonstrate to their husbands the value of relationship with Christ.

Maybe you or someone in your family has watched the television show “What Not to Wear” on The Learning Channel. If so, then you know that the mission of the hosts, Stacey and Clinton, is to take an unsuspecting and hum-drum dressing woman and convert her into a well-dressed, well-coifed and self-assured woman. They do this by demonstrating all of her fashion errors and then they teach her how to determine what look is best for her all with the premise that she will have a renewed self-esteem if she will just adjust her wardrobe.

Consider Peter the “What Not to Wear” host of the ancient world. His advice is the reverse. He wants the women to understand that we are called to live by example and that no matter how we do our hair, wear our clothes or what jewelry we don, our true self-worth is determined by our relationship with God. The witness of that relationship and the sincere lifestyle that comes with it will be the convincing evidence that calls all people want what they have including their non-believing husbands.

So in spite of the phrasing that makes my feminist blood boil, the message is really one for all of us. We are called to overhaul the look of our hearts and thereby our living so that our lives become a testament of God’s amazing way with us. May it be so for each of us! Amen.