Vanity

 "Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher, vanity of vanities; all is vanity". (Ecclesiastes 1:2)

I am very familiar with these words from the scriptures as my mother said them to me plenty of times as I was growing up.  Why do you wonder, my hair.  God gave me curly hair and all my life I have dreamt of straight hair.  I hated those curls as they never sat nicely, would bounce around and look like a mop (even worse when it rains or we have high humidity).   I would look at girls with their straight hair and dreamed of having hair just like theirs - and didn't everyone prefer straight hair to my silly "moppy" hair?

Then someone invented the most amazing machine - the HAIR STRAIGHTENER. And finally I could straighten my hair, and I did. And guess what, I looked terrible.  My face just isn't suited to straight hair.  So now I do something in the middle, I lightly straighten parts of my hair which controls the fly-away bit but keeps the beautiful soft curls that suits my face.

How many hours (and money) have I spent on my hair - far too much.  All this time looking at my hair  in the mirror - is all about vanity.  God didn't give me horrible hair, He blessed me with beautiful curls but in this sinful world that I live I have decided it doesn't fit the fashions.   I am human and I, like many other women have become "enslaved" to worldly fashions.  This takes us away from Christ  our Savior and we stop thinking about Him and instead focus on ourselves - ME.

Of course God knows what man is like  ("The LORD knoweth the thoughts of man, that they are vanity". Psalms 94:11KJ) and is fully aware of our struggles every day to stay focused on Him and not the world.  This is why the word vanity appears so often in the Bible (86 times) as a reminder of where our focus should be and where it tends to be.  The word has a variety of meanings such as meaninglessness, wickedness, falseness, idolatry, worthlessness and futility.  I am sure if these words were written on my mirror and I read them each morning I would spend far less time vainly looking at my hair.

On the topic of vanity - how about the push for "eternal youth" - you only need to open up a glossy magazine to read about the "must have" latest product that will turn back time and make us all look younger (just like those film stars). As a result, millions of women subject themselves to all types of  procedures each year, shelling out money and sacrificing time and comfort.  In this secular world we are told that when our hair greys, our skin sags or wrinkles appears we "need" (read "must") do something such as undergo surgery or buy expensive creams and potions and sadly this becomes our idol. The Bible warns us not to be vain or conceited and not to draw attention to ourselves by the way we look.

 "In like manner also, that the 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 2:9-10 NKJ)

 

We need to remember that God much prefers the gentle and quiet spirit and that it is far better to work on beautifying the person underneath than removing the wrinkles on the surface and remember God put those wrinkles there along with the greying hair (and my curls).

"rather let it be the hidden person of the heart, with the incorruptible beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is very precious in the sight of God." (1 Peter 3:4)

"Charm is deceitful and beauty is passing, But a woman who fears the Lord, she shall be praised" (Proverbs 31:30)

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