Bible in 90 Days – Day 90!

Well, Day 90 was actually about 10 days ago, but we celebrate today. Thanks to all of you who have taken this blessed ride with me. It has been a life-changing experience. As I was reading Revelations and had thoughts back to the OT prophecies, I knew I was making connections that I would not have made had I not read the entire Bible in such a condensed time period. I’m going to have to do this again, but not any time soon. Maybe next year. If you’re not finished yet, I encourage you to continue. We’ll be posting each week about our Bible-based healthly living plan and you can kee us updated with your progress.

Since the last post, we’ve read 1 & 2 Thessalonians, 1 & 2 Timothy, Titus, Philemon, Hebrews, James, 1 & 2 Peter, 1-2 & 3 John, Jude and Revelation. That’s a lot of books but not really that many pages. I was still pretty impressed by the hearts of the letter writers towards the people they wrote to. That letter writing made me think of this blog. If blogs had the Internet had been around in Paul’s day, I can imagine him using it to keep in touch with the different churches. You know, I haven’t met many of you who visit and post but this blog allows us to encourage each other. We’re sorta doing what Paul and the other NT letter writers did. Sorta. Anyway, I feel priviledged to share with each of you and to have you share with me. I hope we continue to grow together.

The two scriptures I’ll share this week are perfect lead-ins to the healthy living challenge we’re starting tomorrow. I know I’ve read these before but they really struck me when I read them this time:

And I want women to be modest in their appearance. They should wear decent and appropriate clothing and not draw attention to themselves by the way they fix their hair or by wearing gold or pearls or expensive clothes. For women who claim to be devoted to God should make themselves attractive by the good things they do. – Tim. 2:9-10

And,

Don’t be concerned about the outward beauty that depends on fancy hairstyles, expensive jewelry, or beautiful clothes. You should be known for the beauty that comes from within, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is so precious to God. –1 Peter 3:3-4

Neither of these scriptures is saying that women shouldn’t look their best. It’s not even saying that we shouldn’t wear things that make us look our best. Of course, we should. But we shouldn’t base our worth on that. 1 Timothy is saying that instead of drawing attention to ourselves by what we do to fix ourselves up or how we look, we should draw attention to ourselves because of our “the good things we do.” 1 Peter is saying that instead of being known because of how we dress and how we look, we should be known for the “unfading beauty” of our spirt.

I am encouraged by this because it puts us all on the same level playing field. Our society rewards physcial beauty and many times tolerates bad behavior in “the beautiful people.” God’s not like that. He created us all so we’re all beautiful to Him. We get His attention, not because of the way we look or the way dress but because of the way we live.

I’m going to keep these two scriptures in mind as I begin the healthy living challenge tomorrow. My goal is not to impress others by looking better, though I admit my upcoming class reunion does loom large in my mind. But I have to focus on making sure my spirit not only “looks good” but “is good” because that’s what people will see in the end.

That’s it for me. Let me know your thoughts. And don’t forget to share what you’re learning.