Now Paul didn’t really notice a costly hair-do, expensive clothes, gold and pearls. On the contrary – according to him, none of these contributed to a woman’s value. He also believed this was no reason why a woman should be admired.

No, Paul had a different opinion about a woman that served the Lord. He said: “¹⁰And I want women to get in there with the men in humility before God, not primping before a mirror or chasing the latest fashions but doing something beautiful for God and becoming beautiful doing it.”

This applies to men too. It’s not the stuff we wear around our necks or the perfect hair cut or beautiful shoes or clothes that we wear that attract people to us, but rather what we do. When people want to take a selfie with us, when people talk and write about us, it must be because of what we do and not about what we look like.

Think back on your life. Which people do you remember? Which people impressed you so much that you actually want to go through life like they do? Usually, these are the people who did something for you and who made a real difference in your life. Most probably you can’t even remember what they looked like and what they wore, because that is not what it was about.

Corné can teach us about doing:

Years ago, when I was still on active duty, we did a two-month border camp at Ondangwa in the north of Namibia.

Our officers’ mess was well decorated with scantily clad girls, eliciting the usual comments at meal times.

One day I couldn’t take it any longer and – as a junior officer – I challenged the commanding officer.

I asked him: “Commandant, if one of these girls would have been your wife or daughter, would you be happy to discuss her in the way that you are discussing these girls? Would you be happy to have her picture posted on a wall at an officer’s mess for everyone to enjoy and to marvel about?”

This was followed by shocked silence. I expected a huge explosion as a result of taking on the commanding officer. But eventually he acknowledged that it was the wrong thing to do and ordered the pictures to be removed.

A few days later one of my fellow officers came to me and said that my comment had opened his eyes and that from that moment on he was going to change his life.

Chances are that after all the years those guys wouldn’t have remembered Corné or what he looked like or what he had worn around his neck. But many would remember the guy who stood up to the commander because of an injustice and that the commander had agreed with him.

There is nothing wrong with well-groomed hair, beautiful clothes and jewelry, but let’s make sure that is not the measurement we use to assess ourselves and others, and let’s make our actions speak louder than what we look like.

Scripture

1 Timothy 2:8-15

Reflection

What is important to you?
What do you want to be remembered for one day?
Where can you start doing?

Prayer

Father, we so easily start doing the wrong things. So easily it becomes about what we look like rather than what we do. Please help us find places where we can make a difference and let others remember us for that rather than for our appearance and for our possessions. Amen.