May 6, 2019
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My wife wasn't ever really very big on jewelry, but she took special joy in pieces that were family heirlooms, like an engagement ring that originally belonged to my grandmother. Over the years, the three small diamonds that had been in that ring had been removed. So, all that was left was a gold band with three empty settings. Well, my wife managed to get a great deal on some stones that she could have set in that ring. It wasn't particularly beautiful before. It's really beautiful now.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Setting Without the Stones."
The setting by itself wasn't really very attractive. But it was those gems that made all the difference. In today's world where a woman's desire to be "beautiful," it just drives so much of the marketing that is directed to women, it's easy for a woman to believe some very big lies about herself. The models in the magazines and the stars on the screen are supposed to define beauty. Well, they don't, at least not according to the Creator. And He should know. Much of what we think is beauty is really a setting without the stones.
God's idea of beautiful, the final word on the subject, is part of our word for today from the Word of God in 1 Peter 3, beginning in verse 2. That's where God calls women to be known and noticed for "the purity and reverence of your lives. Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as braided hair and the wearing of gold jewelry and fine clothes. Instead, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God's sight."
What God says is worth little is worth little. What God says is worth a lot is worth a lot. And He's saying that the outward stuff - your face, your figure, your clothes, your makeup, your hair - those are not what beauty is all about, no matter how many times our culture bombards us with the message that it is. Your outward appearance is at best the setting, but it's not the gems that make the setting come to life. Those are on the inside.
God says the real jewels are things like being a woman who's pure, who's gentle, who makes people feel safe, who conveys a calm spirit, who's poised and peaceful under pressure. Those things just never wrinkle, they never fade. Many a woman who spends hours on how she looks is missing this inner glow that makes a woman radiant. Just think about the women who have made a difference in your life, who have been beautiful for you. It probably had everything to do with what they were, and almost nothing to do with how they looked.
Do you know where a woman finds her true worth? She finds it when she meets Jesus Christ. When all but one of Jesus' disciples had abandoned Him, do you know who was still at His cross? The women, women whose lives had been changed by Jesus. If you've never been to that cross where Jesus died for every wrong thing you've ever done, I want to invite you to join the millions of women and men over the centuries who have found in Jesus Christ the love they have looked for their whole life. He is the one person with whom you are totally safe, whom you can totally trust, who knows all about you and takes you just as you are and loves you just as you are but doesn't leave you there. It makes you into a woman you otherwise never could be except for His beauty inside you.
If you've never opened your heart to the One who loves you the most, would you do it today? Just tell Him "Jesus, beginning this day I am yours. I open up this life to you to make it what you want it to be. I know you love me. You died for my sins on the cross and beginning today, I'm Yours."
If that's where you're at, our website is there just for a moment like this. This crossroads moment of beginning your personal love relationship with the Son of God. It's called ANewStory.com. I urge you to get there as soon as you can today.
Every woman who has ever come to Jesus has found in him a love that no one else has ever been able to give her.