INTRODUCTION:

According to Joseph Addison (1672-1719):

There was a Club of Fat Men that did not come together to entertain one another with Sprightliness and Wit, but to keep one another in Countenance.  The room where the Club met was something of the largest and had two Entrances, one by a Door of moderate Size and the other by a pair of Folding Doors.  If a Candidate for this Corpulent Club could make his Entrance through the first he was looked upon as unqualified...
...if he stuck in the Passage and could not force his way through it, the Folding Doors were thrown open for his Reception, and he was saluted as a Brother.

In opposition to this Society there sprung up another, composed of Scare-Crows and Skeletons...

       On Clubs, THE SPECTATOR

There comes a time in our lives when we must make ourselves fully aware that we cannot please everyone.  There are some clubs to which you cannot belong if you are going to belong to another.  In fact, it is often the case that the very qualities that qualify you for membership in one club disqualify you for membership in another.  We finally must bring ourselves to choose between the options.  You must finally ask yourself:  1) “Whose approval do I want?” and 2) “What am I willing to do to win that approval?”
In a general sense the Christian is one who has decided that he or she wants to have the approval of God and that decision, in many ways, is a decision to do without the approval of the world.  What one must do in order to please God is clearly taught in the Bible.  Doing what the scriptures teach us to do would be fairly uncomplicated if we could completely let go of the lingering desire to also have the approval of the world.  The many changes that some want to introduce into the work and worship of the Lords church are, more than anything else, the result of the lack of resolve on the part of many to simply be pleasing to God whether the world likes it or does not like it.
We read the following words in Proverbs 31:30:  Favour is deceitful , and beauty is vain: but a woman that feareth the Lord, she shall be praised.  In a very real sense, this verse defines the choice that every woman must make:  Will I live so as to please God, or will I seek the approval of the world?  The rest of the chapter, which we will be discussing this week, shows us some of the qualities that qualify her for the praise of God.
If one would list those qualities and show the list to many of the vocal feminists in our society, we would likely hear only scorn and ridicule.  To gain the favor of this group, a woman would have to repudiate the qualities that are pleasing to God.  Such favor is “deceitful.”  
To gain the approval of another large segment of our society, a woman would have to spend all of her time and energy making herself physically beautiful to the point of not being very useful in other ways.  Even then, approval can only be won if she happens to have inherited characteristics that are valued by this group.  If she devotes her life to gaining the approval of this group, she will find that it has no enduring qualities.  The day that she awakens to see in the mirror a face that has grown old, she will realize that her value has vanished.  This attempt is clearly “vain.”
This week we will be looking at the wisest choice of all:  the choice to devote one’s life to pleasing God by nurturing those qualities that are truly excellent and enduring.  By doing so, the virtuous woman will also win the praises of her children, her husband, and godly people.  She will also have a humble sense of self-satisfaction that cannot be had by other means.

CONCLUSION:

“Favor is deceitful, and beauty is vain: but a woman
that feareth the Lord, she shall be praised” (Proverbs 31:30).

         Tim Nichols
         Route 1 Box 211
         Burlington, WV 26710
 
 
 
 
 

Return to Table of Contents