from an "older" woman to a "younger" woman (Titus 2:4)
Listen carefully, and try to understand...and if you don't understand you can ask questions! Okay??
Jesus once told Peter to watch and pray (be alert, stay close to Him and keep asking Jesus to help you understand the things He says) because, in Jesus' words, "satan wants to sift you like wheat". That means that satan, the liar, who hides in darkness and dishonesty, tries to trap people into the darkness by getting their attention with something they desire. For sweet young ladies, one of these areas has to do with a desire to be attractive.
Let some of Jesus' Light shine on you.....Do you realize that every time you feel good because you like the way you look, you are lifting yourself ABOVE Jesus in your own heart? Even the times you feel bad just because you don't like the way you look, you are still lifting yourself above Jesus! Do you know why that is? It is because Jesus is the only Person who is really, truly Beautiful! That means, that the people who hide their lives in Him become more and more beautiful every time they learn from Him and obey Him, and change the things in their lives that are unlike Him. Satan wants you to think that looking good makes you beautiful, but all it really does is make you look nice on the outside.
If you needed to clean the toilet and all you did was close the lid and polish the outside of the tank and the seat, what do you think it would smell like inside after 12 years of this? Pretty gross, eh?? Would the inside be clean and fresh and healthy just because the lid is shiny and polished? Of course not! Would you want to use a toilet like that? So what's the parallel?? Jesus wants you to have a pure, stable, steady life that doesn't ever depend on how your hair looks that day (because some days hair just does weird things! And it doesn't matter to Him, if you aren't lazy or selfish about it.) Satan doesn't like it that he can't ruin our days by making us angry about wild hair or panicked about a pimple or insecure about old clothes. Satan doesn't like it that God's people don't have to respond to his stupid ideas about what is important and valuable. God's people are secure and safe in Jesus' grasp. They find their identity all day, every day, in the fact that Jesus, the ONLY Beautiful Person forever and ever and ever, Loves them, is committed to them, talks with them, forgives them, covers them with His Blood and His Holy Name. He Promises never to leave them, no matter how their hair or clothes or skin or eyes look, as long as they are full of Him and not full of evil, worldly darkness or sin.
Jesus doesn't want you to get trapped by satan into finding your identity in how you look. This will only draw your heart away from Jesus and make you miserable because you will never be beautiful enough to feel good this way. It will consume (that means it will eat up, devour, destroy) your heart and steal your life from you in the end, whenever that end comes. You will never be happy and you will never be free and you can never know Jesus and His Love for you if you live this way. SO DON'T live this way, feeling good or bad about how you look. Instead, sow seeds with Jesus and with people who love and know Him. Fill your heart with Him and the things He loves, and then you can begin to live by feeling good because of who Jesus is and what He is like and what He has done for you and all the people who Believe Him! Read about who He is and what He loves and then go do something about it, ok? You'll regret it for a thousand billion years if you don't, and you'll be thankful forever and ever if you do! Love,