~ Perfume, 2 ~
Series
Note
~ In this series we look at some of the Scriptures which mention human physical
adornment—pretty much without comment. These
posts will include clothing, head (including hair and
wigs), jewelry (including accessories), makeup (including tattoos), and perfume
(including incense). It is
important to note that some of
these passages are culturally related to a specific culture and time period.
Two Principles ~ (1) Focus on the long-term: “Charm
is deceitful and beauty is passing, but a woman who fears the Lord, she shall
be praised. Give her of the
fruit of her hands, and let her own works praise her in the gates” (Proverbs
31:30-31).
(2) Exercise modesty: “Women adorn themselves in modest
apparel, with propriety and moderation, not with braided hair or gold or
pearls or costly clothing, but, which is proper for women professing
godliness, with good works” (1 Timothy 2:9b-10).
Scripture For This
Week ~ “Furthermore
you sent for men to come from afar, to whom a messenger was sent; and there
they came. And you washed yourself for them, painted your eyes, and adorned
yourself with ornaments. You sat on a stately couch, with a table prepared
before it, on which you had set My incense and My oil. The sound of a
carefree multitude was with her, and Sabeans were brought from the wilderness
with men of the common sort, who put bracelets on their wrists and beautiful
crowns on their heads. Then I said concerning her who had grown old in
adulteries, ‘Will they commit harlotry with her now, and she with them?’ Yet
they went in to her, as men go in to a woman who plays the harlot; thus they
went in to Oholah and Oholibah, the lewd women. But righteous men will judge
them after the manner of adulteresses, and after the manner of women who shed
blood, because they are adulteresses, and blood is on their hands.
“For
thus says the Lord God: ‘Bring up an assembly against them, give them up to
trouble and plunder. The assembly shall stone them with stones and execute them
with their swords; they shall slay their sons and their daughters, and burn
their houses with fire. Thus I will cause lewdness to cease from the land, that
all women may be taught not to practice your lewdness. They shall repay you for
your lewdness, and you shall pay for your idolatrous sins. Then you shall know
that I am the Lord God’” (Ezekiel 23:40-49).
Two
Keys
~ (1) “I beseech you therefore,
brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living
sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be
transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good
and acceptable and perfect will of God” (Romans 12:1-2).
(2) “Do you not know that your body is the
temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you
are not your own? For you were bought at
a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which
are God’s” (1 Corinthians 6:19-20).
~ Robert
Lloyd Russell, ABUNDANT
LIFE NOW blog.
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