Many women today need to be the most trendy person they know. They spend hours on social media looking at trends and spend most of their paycheck on trendy clothes and accessories. A modern Proverbs 31 woman knows that chasing trends is a waste of time and money.
She is clothed with strength and dignity; she can laugh at the days to come.
Proverbs 31:25 New International Version
By the time a trendy woman starts to follow a trend, a new trend is starting. It’s a continuous cycle of buying, barely using, and moving on. Even if the trend does last a while, trendy clothing or accessories often don’t. Constantly buying stuff to look trendy also limits our ability to save for the future.
A modern Christian woman knows that outward appearance is much less important than what’s on the inside. Proverbs 31:30 says “beauty is fleeting” and we know that everyone will lose their youthfulness someday.
Instead of chasing trends, a modern Proverbs 31 woman focuses on dignity. Instead of flashy and trendy clothes, we should buy things we love that don’t need to be replaced quickly. If we can limit our clothes budget, we can put more in savings. By spending wisely, we can grow a rainy day fund that allows us to relax knowing that we can survive anything God plans for us.
Verse 21 talks about how God has given us all the ability to plan ahead. We can trust God while also making sure our families are prepared for what we can prepare for. We just need to remember that God’s plan for us is more important than our preparations for the future.
A Modern Proverbs 31 Woman Still Looks Great
Humans put a lot of value on appearances, though. Proverbs 31 talks about wearing expensive clothes and not harming her husband. That means that modern Christian women should still keep an eye on our clothes and appearance. If we show up in public with clothes so worn out that we look homeless, we aren’t going to bear a good witness to God’s beauty and people will respect our family less than if are wearing proper clothes. We should bring respect to ourselves and our families by dressing properly. That means not wearing clothes too revealing and buying new clothes before our stuff wears out.
Obviously Proverbs 31 is saying that we can have expensive stuff. We don’t have to look penniless or give all our money away. The chapter is about wisdom, so our expensive clothing should be an indication that our family is well taken care of. Expensive items are bought as long term investments or from the money left after the future is taken care of.
Chasing trends is a slippery slope of money and stress based on an outward sense of worth. Our worth is in how God sees us and that allows us to focus on faith and family instead of appearance. Once faith and family are comfortably balanced, then we can focus on fun stuff like adornment and expensive hobbies.