Modesty Part 2: Is it Love?

1 Peter 3:3,4
3 Do not let your adorning be external-the braiding of hair and the putting on of gold jewelry, or the clothing you wear-
4 but let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God's sight is very precious.

     When I came across these verses in the Bible at first read I thought it came across as a little hard. Does this mean I can't ever braid my hair or put on jewelry or wear pretty clothes? What if I want to wear those things? But after looking a little more closely at the  passage and the verses it isn't saying that. It's saying that you shouldn't be obsessed with looking pretty.
     In our culture in America it's very easy to become obsessed with looking pretty and have that become an idol for us. Our hearts should be captivated by Christ and we should be seeking him and what pleases Him rather than trying to please ourselves and the people around us.
     Does that mean that we never wear jewelry or do fancy stuff to our hair or wear things that look pretty? No, God is our creator and sometimes he supplies us with the gifts of having these things and he allows us to enjoy these good gifts that he gives to us.

James 1:17a Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above....
   
     It is not wrong to own and wear jewelry otherwise why would God tell the Israelites to ask their Egyptian neighbors to give them jewelry. (Ex. 11:2) God never forbid them to wear it so its safe to assume that the Israelite women were wearing jewelry while walking around in the desert. (I would have been if I was one of them).
     That aside God wants us to be captivated by him. Our entire motive for being modest should be rooted in the fact that we desire to please him. If you love someone enough you are going to want to do things and give up stuff in order to please them. It's easy to want to sacrifice things because you love someone.
     I love my family and I know recently I haven't been as good about this since my single life sort of took off but when I was fresh out of high school I could have went off to some college somewhere and left my family (who was houseless at the time) and started my own life right away. Everyone was saying that I should but every time I looked into it it just didn't seem like the right thing to do. I couldn't just leave my family moving from house to house with my mom trying to homeschool and feed a family of 13 on her own.
     Yes, I was an extra mouth to feed (raising that number to 14) but it wasn't like I sat back and let my mom do all of the work. I helped to grade papers, I would run to the store if we needed stuff occasionally, I worked with the younger kids on their reading and math, I watched the babies when my mom needed to go out to get stuff or take someone to class, I made dinner, and just generally kept busy.
       Why did I choose to do this instead of getting away and starting my own life? I did it out of love for my family and it was worth any sacrifice no matter how big or small that sacrifice may have been. When you love someone it is much easier to sacrifice for them than when you don't love them. Those months were not wasted, they were months that I am glad that I went through.
     If you love God anything that he desires for you will be the best thing for you. For every person that's going to look different. Ultimately are we being modest for the external pleasing of men or is it because of our love for God that modesty is just an outpouring of our love for him? Just like staying with my family was an outpouring of my love for them our modesty should be a small outpouring of our love for God.