OUR DAILY BREAD : AUTHENTIC BEAUTY

[cimi]

March 19
Friday


AUTHENTIC
BEAUTY

READ:
Proverbs 31:21-31
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Charm is deceitful and
beauty is passing, but
a woman who fears
the LORD, she shall be
praised.
__Proverbs
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I often take a moment as I wait at our grocery store checkout stand to scan the covers of the magazines displayed there. It seems that if they aren't about sex and money, they're about diet, fitness, health, and outward beauty. There's nothing there for the soul.

The problem is that people read the wrong magazines--those that are full of lies that fixate on beauty of face and form as though that's all there is. This can lead to comparison and terrible despair.

Some years ago, a friend of mine told of a conversation he had with a lovely, self-assured teenager. "You're very self-confident," he observed. "Can you tell me why?" "Yes," the young woman answered. "It's because
I'm so pretty." "Oh, I'm sorry," he said with extraordinary wisdom. "Why?" she asked in surprise, "Because," he replied, "you may not always be pretty."

"Charm is deceitful and beauty is passing" is the wisdom we read in Proverbs 31. Physical beauty all too quickly fades away; all one's efforts to keep it are doomed to fail. But there is an inner beauty--authentic beauty that will endure forever--in the one "who fears the LORD" (v.30).
__David Roper
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Righteousness in the heart produces
beauty in the character.

*************Today's Bible Reading __ Proverbs 31:21-31**********

21 She is not afraid of
snow for her household, for
all her household is clothed
with scarlet.

22 She makes tapestry for
herself; her clothing is fine
linen and purple.

23 Her husband is known
in the gates, when he sits
among the elders of the
land.

24 She makes linen
garments and sells them,
and supplies sashes for the
merchants.

25 Strength and honor are
her clothing; she shall
rejoice in time to come.

26 She opens her mouth
with wisdom, and on her
tongue is the law of
kindness.

27 She watches over the
ways of her household, and
does not eat the bread of
idleness.

29 Her children rise up and
call her blessed; her
husband also, and he
praises her:

29 "Many daughters have
done well, but you excel
them all."

30 Charm is deceitful and
beauty is passing, but a
woman who fears the LORD,
she shall be praised.

31 Give her of the fruit of
her hands, and let her own
works praise her in the
gates.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>INSIGHT<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<

This marvelous portrait in Proverbs 31 of a godly woman outlines
her character qualities: Her value (v.10) and her commitment
(vv.11-12), her productivity (vv.13-22), her honor (vv.23-26), and
her piety (vv.27-31). Some women have felt overwhelmed by the
high standard this ideal woman sets. However, the passage is given
as a model to inspire. Each woman has her own uniqueness, which
may excel in one area and diminish in another. __DENNIS FISHER