I got a much needed haircut yesterday. I put off going to the hair salon for as long as possible. I can’t stand going there because of the worldly music, chatter, and the generally godless atmosphere. Anyway, my hair was bugging me so much that I finally just went. Mom needed to get a trim as well. I decided that since I’m 20, not a child anymore, I’d like to try a hairstyle for something different. I’m always being told that I look 2-3 years younger than my actual age, so I thought a style might help me look a bit more grownup. I got my hair layered, and it’s growing on me.
As always, the lady, sorry, woman cutting my hair talked about things that made my want to squirm in my seat. (I wish I could cut my own hair and be forever done with the place!) I wonder if anything registers in her mind when she’s laughing about something that’s not at all humorous, and I’m silent and unresponsive…? She knows we are Christians. I rejoiced walking out of that place, knowing one thing for sure ~I am not of this world! Praise God!!!
Well, Lydia couldn’t get her hair cut yesterday because Cottontail had to go to the vet, so the two of us rode our bikes the salon this afternoon for Lydia’s appointment. As the woman cut Lydia’s hair, she made comments about me getting my hair short with more layers next time. I always have to hear about this. Actually, when I told her yesterday that I wanted some layers she pretended to be shocked. She’s finally stepping into the 21st century, she must have thought. Yes, it is the newest rage to have butch haircuts and styles that look like one’s hair got caught in a machine and yanked out just in time. It’s also quite modern to look like you rubbed oil through your hair and started the day without using a brush. Well, sorry, I just don’t care for that look.
“But if a woman have long hair, it is a glory to her: for her hair is given her for a covering.” 1 Corinthians 11:15
I love long hair. Funny, the Bible calls long hair a woman’s glory, but here in Holland you are considered nerdy and terribly outdated if your hair is longer than shoulder length. Isn’t this what Satan’s goal is...to rob women of the glory befitting womanhood? That’s what the whole prostitution industry is all about ~tearing down the image of the woman, making it seem as though her only worth is to be a sex symbol. It’s filthy and repulsive! This is about as anti-God as it gets without forthrightly coming out and blaspheming His holy name. We were created in God’s image. As Christians, our bodies are the temples of the Holy Spirit. Should we dishonor Him by conforming to the image of this world?
As I looked around, I noticed that every woman in that hair salon had a butch haircut; they all looked the same. The first half of the hairstyling books were all models displaying the hair-caught-in-a-machine look, and the haughty expressions of the women posing seemed to radiate that they each thought their head was an absolute masterpiece! That’s like the modern art these days. You mix all the colors of the rainbow together into the shape of some unrecognizable object and suddenly you’re considered another Rembrandt or Michelangelo. The true beauty of creativity has been lost to us. A girl at the salon I went to last August was so used to doing these choppy-looking haircuts that she couldn’t even cut my hair in a straight line!!! Boy, that’s sad!
I’ve always said that as a general rule, if you’ve seen one Dutch woman you’ve seen them all ~the tight jeans, leather coat, head shaved like a man’s (the little hair that’s left is sure to be dyed), and a face caked in makeup. This isn’t just the style in Holland, although women look more unisex here than in any other country I’ve been to. This is a worldwide plague. It’s another one of Satan’s attempts to destroy what God has created.
God created man and woman, male and female, but Satan wants unisex. He wants women looking like men (the hacked hair and tight pants) and men looking like women (earrings, long hair, baggy pants). God says this is an abomination (Deuteronomy 22:5). He made two genders, and He wants our clothing to distinctly show the difference between male and female. However, the devil wants us all stereotyped into the image he has in mind, and he uses his fashion-enslave people to infect those who want to be different with peer pressure. I experience this pressure every time I step into that hair salon. You know, I’m tempted to grow these layers out just in rebellion to what is considered “in style.” I don’t care about style and what is considered “in.” If it’s modest and it’s “in” I’ll wear it, and when it goes “out” I’ll wear it too.
“London gets their fashion straight from Paris and Paris gets their fashion straight from hell.” ~ Charles Spurgeon
You know what’s really sad? One of the women in our neighborhood dyes her hair, little that there is, almost every week. From blond to red to brown, every time I see her it’s a different color. (She redecorates her house almost as often as she changes her hair color.) This is so sad. What an obvious display of the insecurities that lie hidden in her heart. When the joy of the Lord is ours, we needn’t toil over our outward appearance, for we all know that these mortal bodies will one day be laid in the dirt to decay. But where will the soul be then? What will it profit a woman if she gains the whole world ~all the makeup, the hair dye, the latest clothing~ and loses her own soul?
She will be remembered for her pretty face, but soon even that memory will grow dim and fade away. Character qualities and loving deeds create memories that endure forever. They are recorded not only in the mind, but by the heart, and leave a lasting impression that cannot be erased.
Beauty is only skin deep.
Poor Mom. As the woman cut her hair, she and I both had to endure the snide comments about Mom’s hair. Heaven forbid, she hasn’t colored it in a while, and the gray is actually showing! Trauma of traumas! I held my tongue, but I wanted to give our know-it-all hair cutter a piece of my mind. Is it really so important to have a head of perfectly styled hair all dyed and beautiful? Are looks really SO important?
Some of the most gorgeous women and handsome men are also the world’s first-class losers. (Rabbit Trail: Let’s take a look at our Hollywood “stars.” They are practically worshiped for the perfection of their faces and the attractiveness of their bodies, yet they are the youngest people in the world to die. How? Due to drug overdoses, etc., etc. Why? The multiple marriages, adultery, children born out of wedlock… One can only bear so much sin guilt before breaking under the strain. Truly, they must have wonderful lives to want to crowd out the memories with drugs and drinking, which, if done in excess, ultimately lead to death. No, the sad fact is that behind those smiling faces are some of the loneliest, most desolate persons on earth. From their hopeless lives and needless deaths we see that the glory of outward beauty does nothing to pacify the soul that craves forgiving Love…the endless love of Jesus Christ, which passes all human comprehension.)
Back to those gorgeous women and handsome men are also the world’s first-class losers… They know nothing of character. They know nothing of kindness. They know nothing of the truly important things of life, the things of the hidden man of the heart, the things that have lasting value. Their gorgeous faces are about as deep as their beauty goes. Shallow and proud are they, and of what? They had no input on the design of their faces and bodies when God formed them in their mothers’ wombs. They have “changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator.” (Romans 1:25) We have no right to take credit for our own beauty or unique characteristics. All glory belongs to God, and yet some insist on robbing Him of it.
Beauty is as beauty does.
As I listened to the woman prattle on and on about hair and the seeming life-threatening importance of having it just so (as Satan’s stereotype would require it to be), I silently contemplated what the Bible says about gray hair. Proverbs 20:29 says, “The glory of young men is their strength: and the beauty of old men is the gray head.” (I’m sure that must go for older women as well.) Proverbs 16:31 says, “The hoary head is a crown of glory, if it be found in the way of righteousness.” Ahh! This proves my point exactly! Far better to have a gray head of hair and be righteous than lost and Hell-bound with a gorgeous head of colored, styled hair. While women scurry off to the hair salons and clothing stores, leaving husband and children to eat TV dinners, my mom cooks us delicious homemade meals every night. She teaches us daily with her life about the things that truly matter.
Interesting that the physical appearance of the virtuous woman described in Proverbs 31 is never mentioned. The Bible never says “She is beautiful to behold,” yet God’s Word says that her price is far above rubies. The virtuous woman is compared with a gorgeous, red ruby, though her outward appearance is never told. The chapter only speaks of her deeds, and they are what make her beautiful in the eyes of all who know her. Beauty is as beauty does!
“The LORD seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart.” 1 Samuel 16:7
I refuse to allow the fashions of this world to enslave me. I am not ashamed to be different. I consider it an honor, as should all Christian women. We have been called to be holy into the Lord our God. We are to be separate from this world in every aspect of the word. I want to encourage you to not submit to the peer pressure all around. Beauty has nothing to do with hair, clothing, or a pretty face. Beauty is something that is accentuated by a strong character and a lovely spirit of obedience and submission.
Don’t become another one of Satan’s stereotypes. There are already more than enough. The Lord is looking for someone who will not bend with the heavy winds of fashion, but who will stand strong and determined to do right regardless of the whirl of stunning styles. Surely, the Lord will honor such a woman!
“Thus saith the LORD, Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches: But let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me, that I am the LORD which exercise lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness, in the earth: for in these things I delight, saith the LORD.” Jeremiah 9:23, 24
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