Submitting to God in Appearance

Richard Hollerman

We know that people may emphasize their appearance far, far more than we read in Scripture. For some reason, they want to either abstain from what they deem wrong or accept what they think is right. It is true that we can take an unbiblical position with this—for our detriment. We read, “God sees not as man sees, for man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart” (1 Samuel 16:7b). Let us be careful that what we emphasize is what God has emphasized.

On the other hand, generally we humans fail to take seriously what God takes seriously. We emphasize the outward too much or fail to emphasize the inward very much. We are confused about what God would want and choose our own way.

Think about the outward a little with me. I refer to such outward expressions as our clothes—or even lack of clothes—our  ornamentation, our hair or lack of hair, our skin or what we have done with our skin, and so much more. What is wrong with us? It all begins with the inside, the inner person, but it is manifested by what is on the outside. As Jesus said, “First clean the inside of the cup and of the dish, so that the outside of it may become clean also” (Matthew 23:26).

We don’t want this writing to become long and involved, but let’s notice that people seem to simply overlook the outside and concentrate on the outside. Of course, we could mention one example after another to give evidence of this tendency. Actually, this perspective has become overwhelmingly evil or wicked.

I’ve noticed again and again today, in this contemporary world, that thousands—actually millions—of people, especially younger people but all of them, are more and more emphasizing tattoos of the body. This includes these markings on the face, on the neck, on the arms, on the hands, on the legs, and other places.  Do you and others think that this is “smart” or attractive?  Actually, it isn’t. It is wicked, unnatural, and foolish. The next time you are tempted to get another tattoo, think again. If you should later want to repent, won’t this be quite difficult to remove and costly to eliminate!

Consider the hair—of both the male and female (the men and woman). Think of the changes in hair color, hair style, and length. If you should ever want to repent of this foolishness, would you say that this will be easy to change? No, it won’t. It may take six months or a couple years to allow the hair to grow out. Dying the hair or changing the hair color will be difficult enough but for a short-haired girl to become a long-haired girl, this could take a long time (cf. 1 Cor. 11:3-16).

We might also think of the body piercings (on the face, the ears, the nose, the chin, and so forth). If you see the foolishness of this, how difficult will it be for you to repent of this and begin to appear sanely? This is one of the most foolish and ridiculous external things that you could do. Yet, this is done by many millions of teenagers, twenties, and both men and women. This prideful and foolish deed will be difficult to change if you should ever want to change your mind (repent). Should you really contemplate something like this if the action is difficult to rectify?

We know that body markings can be a lifelong condition. If later you should want to appear differently, wouldn’t this be hard to change? It may be done, with much cost, but it may be too high a price for some to pay. Would God want you to spend hard-earned cash for this sort of foolishness?

Of course, there would be another sinful practice—that of tattoos. We’ve noticed (and you probably have too) that both men and women obtain tattoos for their faces, their necks, their arms, their legs, and other parts of their bodies. Besides the gross sinfulness of some of the content or messages of these tattoos, there would be the unnatural markings of the bodies that they represent. Do you really want to express yourself in this unnatural manner?

How shall we even bring up the “clothing” (?) styles of men and women. As Paul says, women should dress themselves with “proper clothing, modestly and discreetly” (1 Timothy 2:9). Peter adds that they should not concentrate on “external” adornment, with “braiding the hair, and wearing gold jewelry, or putting on dresses” (1 Peter 3:3). But this is the very way that men and women express themselves! If God intends for you to live eternally, does He really want you to express yourself in this manner?

We suggest that women should dress like women (not men) and men should dress like men (not women). Further, women should not dress so as to entice the opposite sex, thus they should not only dress like women but they should avoid provocative dress as well. In other words, they should be far from dressing in a way that would draw the opposite gender to them (and men should also clothe themselves in a way that will not draw women to them). People should not dress (or undress) in a way that draws the gaze of the opposite sex to their bodies and private parts!

So many different factors play into our appearance. We’ve mentioned a number of them above but there are others. Why are there so many different ways to display our appearance in ungodly, wicked, and evil ways? Why do people—men and women—desire to appear in ways that would fail to glorify God, that would be wrong in God’s sight, or that would defy the righteous ways of God? Why do people insist on using their appearance in a way that surely they know grieves the heart of God!

When you walk through a food store, or walk through a mall, or sit in class, or stop for gasoline, and there see a person who shows himself or herself in an ungodly way, just what do you think? Does it come to you that this person is not only harming himself but also harming others who see him? Does it occur to you that such a person is doing something that offends God and also hurts others?

When you see a man with long hair, one who has earrings, one who dresses like a woman, or in some other way offends God and harms himself, does it grieve you too? When you see a woman who chops her hair off, colors her hair green, orange, or purple, does it occur to you that she is grieving the heart of God? Do you re ally think that God is happy with this and delights in our behavior—and appearance? When you see a woman who dresses like a man, who wears something that is provocative, who places a tattoo on her neck, cheek, or arm, or who takes an item of clothing off so that she appears suggestive to the opposite sex, is this something that is good or something that is bad, something that is helpful or something that is harmful? Is this something that expresses love or something that manifests a different attitude? As Scripture says, “Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law” (Romans 13:10).

Can you see that this is not just an academic exercise but it is a way to discover what pleases God and what displeases Him? We realize that there are thousands of professing “Christians” who laugh at such a suggestion and mock us who would warn against this sort of issue of appearance. But regardless of what a professing religionist may say, we know that God would want us to make Him and His will known in this evil culture. It may be that professing “Christians” may think that all of these immodest expressions are good, helpful, and an expression of “diversity,” but if you are a true believer in Christ, you know that we speak the truth and this exposure is needful since we live in a wicked world.

May you and others realize that we are writing about a very important aspect of our sanctification. We must live holy lives in all purity and truth! Let us constantly bear in mind that only those who are holy will see God! All others will regretfully be cast away from His holy presence. As Scripture says, we must pursue holiness for without this “no one will see the Lord” (Hebrews 12:14).