Do not let your adorning be external- the braiding of hair, the wearing of gold, or the putting on of clothing-- but let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God's sight is very precious. -1 Peter 3:3-4 (ESV)
America is obsessed with health. Amazon.com sells hundreds of thousands of books on how we feed our bodies, how we trim and tone our bodies, and how we care for our bodies. The Apple store has 250 popular health and fitness apps (not to mention the limitless less popular apps) designed to get you on track for the best six pack, shedding baby weight, 5k training, and so on. Walmart sells over 2000 different kinds of protein powder. As a resident of Baltimore County, I can borrow over 3000 health books from our library system or find a CrossFit workout in 23 different locations. What I guess I really mean to say is that America is obsessed with physical health.
I, too, put considerable effort in to tracking how much I put into my body, what kind of things I put into my body, how much I exercise my body, etc. And there is nothing wrong with this! God has given me a strong body that I need to steward well if I am to fulfill His purposes for my life and serve others effectively. Yet, we know that age sets in eventually. Healthy lifestyles can only take you so far.
Beyond the usual womanly application concerning the vanity of ever-changing fashion, Peter pointed my heart further. I may obsess over every calorie that fuels my body, but I take little account as to what I fuel my mind and heart with on a regular basis. I expend much effort into adorning myself physically with much less regard on how I adorn my spirit. Women long for imperishable physical beauty (which fades with time), but SO much more worthy of our time and attention is imperishable inner beauty (which grows with time).
So I leave us (myself included) with this today: Are you concerned with the things you are feeding your soul? Do you keep close watch that you aren't feeding your heart and mind with discouraging, life-sapping "trans fats?" Are you training your spirit for endurance and joy? Are you watching the "caloric" minutes here and there spent on social media, radio, or entertainment that continue to fuel your heart in small doses that, with time, amass and influence how you think and feel? How's your cardiac calorie counting?
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