Lately I find myself wearing two pieces of jewelry, which for me in the past was a pretty uncommon phenomenon. I'm not a big jewelry girl. The thing is, that the two things I like to wear both represent someone else. My engagement ring reminds me of the man who gave it to me, and every time I see it I'm reminded of how incredibly blessed I am to love and be loved by him. I'm still quite astonished by the fact that I get to marry him someday. And I'm proud to be his fiancee, because I think he is simply the best. So I wear this ring to remind myself, and to tell the world a story of God's goodness to me. Around my neck I wear a small little nest on a chain. The two beads in there represent me and my son. And it reminds me of the precious gift that I was given in him, and the beautiful things that God has done in both our lives. That story is harder for me to tell, more complicated, more sorrow all wrapped up in it. But still I wear it because I am thankful, and to remind myself of the love I've been given.
I want some visible way to tell the world of the greatest love I have been given. Is there a symbol that we wear that says to the world, "I belong to Jesus"? I'm so thankful for His love, so undeserved and so immeasurably great. And then I remembered this verse in 1st Timothy 2.
"Likewise, I want women to adorn themselves with proper clothing, modestly and discreetly, not with braided hair and gold or pearls or costly garments; but rather by means of good works, as befits women making a claim to godliness."
Good works. I want this to be what people notice about me. Not the way I dress, not the way I look. I want to be adorned with good works, and in this way perhaps I might "adorn the doctrine of God our Savior" (Titus 2:10). If we make a claim to godliness, if we affirm that Jesus is resurrected and at work in us, we should be clothed in good works. Good works are not the gospel or our salvation, just as my ring is not marriage and my necklace is not motherhood. But I hope that good works adorn the story, that others see and glorify God. And I hope that God's sanctifying work in us, reminds us of His great love. May His love be the first and the last and the most prevalent thing that anyone notices in me.
"But thanks be to God, who always leads us in His triumph in Christ, and manifests through us the sweet aroma of the knowledge of Him in every place. For we are a fragrance of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing; to the one an aroma from death to death, to the other an aroma from life to life. And who is adequate for these things?"
-2nd Corinthians 2:14-16
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