This is number six in my series on the word LET in the Bible.

Do not let your adorning be external—the braiding of hair and the putting on of gold jewelry, or the clothing you wear—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.

This scripture is usually understood correctly, but just superficially. It’s simple: Don’t emphasize physical appearance over having a “gentle and quiet spirit.” Some may think that this applies only to women, but it clearly applies to both sexes; we all know that men can be as vain as women. The first takeaway is to limit the external “adornment” and accentuate the internal qualities that are “precious in His sight.”

But things can go wrong in two directions. On one hand, we can deliberately choose to look dowdy or unkempt, as if that were in and of itself a sign of humility. We can all think of some groups that take this to the extreme. Deliberately hiding one’s looks is not what this scripture is talking about.

On the other hand, we can “wear” our apparent gentleness and quietness on the outside, as if “acting” what we think of as humbly and quietly were in and of itself a sign of humility. Colossians 3:12-14 says to “put on [that is, clothe yourself], as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.” These are the characteristics that show forth Christ to others.

Again, the word from I Peter 3:4 we want to focus on is “let.” If we are walking closely with Jesus, and letting Him have His way in us, these qualities will emanate from us as inevitably as the scent of a rose. It’s all about where our focus is, and where our priorities are. If we constantly choose God’s compassion, kindness, humility (see Philippians 2:5-8), meekness, and patience, then that is what will come out of us. But we must remember that these qualities originate in Christ, not in us, or even our own idea of what these qualities look like when expressed. It’s about being so close in relationship to Him that we inevitably express His beautiful virtues.

As an artistic person myself, I love and appreciate beauty. But the most beautiful people I know are those that glow with the love and nature of God, which has nothing to do with personal appearance. So the questions are, Do I want to impress from the outside, or glow with His light from the inside? And, Can I give up my quest to express anything but His qualities? Those things that originate in Him and get expressed through us are not short-lived like external attractiveness. They are, to quote Peter 3, imperishable.