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All That Glitters
Thoughts from the Mount of Blessing, pp. 88-95
ALL THAT GLITTERS
A famous short story by French writer Guy de Maupassant raises some interesting questions about values and what a piece of jewelry is really worth.
Madame Loisel was the wife of a hardworking middle-class office worker, but she dreamed of being rich. All she wanted was to have beautiful dresses and lovely jewelry. When her husband got an invitation for them to go to a fancy ball at the government department where he worked, Madame Loisel was unhappy because she had nothing to wear. Her husband gave up some money he’d been saving for a trip so that she could buy an expensive dress, but then she got upset because she didn’t have any jewelry to wear with the dress.
Finally she decided to borrow some jewelry from a rich friend. Madame Loisel picked out just one thing from her friend’s collection—a beautiful diamond necklace. She wore it to the ball and felt like the most beautiful woman there.
But on the way home, a terrible thing happened. The necklace was lost. Madame Loisel and her husband searched for it for days, but it never turned up. They were able to find another one exactly like it in a jewelry store—but it cost more than they could ever afford to pay.
They spent their life’s savings and borrowed the rest of the money from loan sharks to purchase the priceless necklace and return it to Madame Loisel’s friend. She didn’t notice the difference. But now the Loisel’s had to pay back the terrible debt.
Their lives were ruined. Monsieur Loisel had to work extra hours at a second job. They gave up their apartment and fired their servant. The lived like poor people; Madame Loisel’s pretty hands were ruined from scrubbing floors and washing laundry by hand. But after 10 years of poverty and hard work, they repaid the money. One day, Madame Loisel was walking in the park. The years of suffering had aged her: she looked like a poor old woman now. But when she saw the rich friend who had lent her the necklace, she went over and said hello. Her friend, shocked asked what had happened to change her so much, and Madame Loisel told her the whole story.
Her friend looked at her with shock and pity in her eyes. “You should have told me!” she said. “My necklace wasn’t real—it was an imitation diamond necklace, worth only a few hundred dollars!” (adapted from “The Necklace”, by Guy de Maupassant)
Thoughts from the Mount of Blessing, pp.93-95
- What’s wrong with jewelry? What does the Bible tell us?
- What is it about wearing jewelry that makes it wrong?
- Can jewelry be the only thing that we should not wear?
- Will wearing jewelry affect our spiritual life?
- Does wearing jewelry have anything to do with making us a Christian or not? Explain.
HERE’S WHAT I THINK
Your sister has just gotten her nose pierced and is showing off her new jewelry. “That’s gross,” you say, “and besides, Mom and Dad will kill you. You know they don’t believe in wearing jewelry.”
Your sis rolls her eyes. “Right,” she says “I just spent $10 on this nose ring. You just spent $150 on a pair of new athletic shoes—just because you had to have the right brand label. Who’s the one putting on ‘costly apparel,’ huh?
How is wearing jewelry or “bling” the same as or different from wearing expensive clothes?
Most of the time you have been encouraged to log on to www.RealTimeFaith.net to express your opinion about the topic for this week. As you know, the forum has been temporarily closed. I would like to encourage you at this time to use the lines below to record your thoughts and then to share them with your class later.
“If we are Christians, we shall follow Christ, even though the path in which we are to walk cuts right across our natural inclinations. There is no use in telling you that you must not wear this or that, for if the love of these vain things is in your heart, your laying off your adornments will only be like cutting the foliage off a tree. The inclinations of the natural heart would again assert themselves. You must have a conscience of your own” (Child Guidance, pp. 429, 430)
Exodus 32:1-4 (The Message)
“When the people realized that Moses was taking forever in coming down off the mountain, they rallied around Aaron and said, ‘Do something. Make gods for us who will lead us. That Moses, the man who got us out of Egypt—who knows what's happened to him?’
“So Aaron told them, ‘Take off the gold rings from the ears of your wives and sons and daughters and bring them to me.’ They all did it; they removed the gold rings from their ears and brought them to Aaron. He took the gold from their hands and cast it in the form of a calf, shaping it with an engraving tool.
“The people responded with enthusiasm: ‘These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up from Egypt!’ ”
Genesis 35:1-4 (The Message)
“God spoke to Jacob: ‘Go back to Bethel. Stay there and build an altar to the God who revealed himself to you when you were running for your life from your brother Esau.’
“Jacob told his family and all those who lived with him, ‘Throw out all the alien gods which you have, take a good bath and put on clean clothes, we're going to Bethel. I'm going to build an altar there to the God who answered me when I was in trouble and has stuck with me everywhere I've gone since.’
“They turned over to Jacob all the alien gods they'd been holding on to, along with their lucky-charm earrings. Jacob buried them under the oak tree in Shechem. Then they set out. A paralyzing fear descended on all the surrounding villages so that they were unable to pursue the sons of Jacob.”
“Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any men love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.” 1 John 2:15, 16 (King James Version).
- What purpose did God have in telling the people to take off their jewelry?
- Could the command to take off their jewelry have been God’s way of bringing about a change in their spiritual attitude? What do you think?
- Why was it important for Jacob’s family to take off their jewelry? Explain.
- What does 1 John 2:15 and16 have to do with wearing jewelry?
- To what else could 1 John 2:15 and 16 apply?
The following words are many times used in discussing jewelry. What do they mean? What is your definition and what is the dictionary definition?
Adornment _____________________________________________________
Jewelry ________________________________________________________
Habiliment ______________________________________________________
Deny __________________________________________________________
“Those who have bracelets, and wear gold and ornaments, had better take these idols from their persons and sell them, even if it should be for much less than they gave for them, and thus practice self-denial. Time is too short to adorn the body with gold or silver or costly apparel. I know a good work can be done in this line. Jesus the Commander in the heavenly courts, laid aside His crown of royalty and His royal robe and stepped down from His royal throne, and clothed His divinity with the habiliments of humanity, and for our sakes became poor, that we through His poverty might come into possession of eternal riches, and yet the very ones for whom Christ has done everything that was possible to do to save the perishing souls from eternal ruin feel so little disposition to deny themselves anything they have money to buy” (Selected Messages, Book 3, p. 248).
- You may say “Jewelry makes me look so pretty, I just can’t be seen without my earrings. What are you telling Jesus?
- If Jesus was willing to give up ALL of his heavenly royalty to save you and me from “eternal ruin” how should wearing jewelry matter? Explain.
SO WHAT?
Does what you wear on the outside say anything about who you are inside? If you wear a cross necklace, are you publicly declaring you’re a Christian—are you wasting your money with gaudy self-decoration or following a fad? Do the Bible’s statements about jewelry apply to us today?
It’s a tough one. The biblical principle is that Christians are to be simple and modest, drawing attention to Jesus rather than to themselves. We’re also to spend our money wisely, not wasting it on ourselves. Going without earrings, necklaces, chains, and piercing certainly does present a simpler image to the world. But what about the clothes and shoes we wear, and other things we choose to spend our money on? What about tattoos and hairstyles? If the Bible doesn’t mention a tattoo or a pair of Nike shoes, does that mean they don’t matter?
If we’re going to look like Christians presenting a consistent message, inside and out then we have to look at the big picture, not at any single piece of jewelry. Everything about you—from the clothes you wear to the money in your pocket—belongs to Jesus. How does He want you to look?
- What is your favorite sports teams’ uniform?
- What are some organizations that are required to wear uniforms?
- Have you been required to wear a band uniform or club uniform?
- Does wearing a uniform cause you to lose your individuality? Explain.
- As a Christian, do we have a uniform? Does it allow us to be individuals? Explain.
- How would you describe the Christian’s uniform?
Read these texts, then answer the questions below.
1 Peter 3:3, 4
1 Timothy 2:9
Exodus 32:1-4
Deuteronomy 7: 25, 26
- What did God command the Israelites to do with the idols they captured, wooden, silver or gold?
- How should Christian women adorn themselves?
- Where should your beauty come from?
- How did Aaron make an idol?
- What caused the Israelites to beg for a god made of gold?
- In our lives, do we have any similarities?
Thoughts from the Mount of Blessing, pp.88-90
Do you really understand the meaning of idolatry? Check this out: Idolatry means excessive admiration or love shown for somebody or something.
- There are more ways than just wearing jewelry to commit idolatry. What are they?
- As Christians what sort of treasures should we have?
Matthew 6:19 (The Message)
“ ‘Don't hoard treasure down here where it gets eaten by moths and corroded by rust or—worse!—stolen by burglars. Stockpile treasure in heaven, where it's safe from moth and rust and burglars. It's obvious, isn't it? The place where your treasure is, is the place you will most want to be, and end up being.’ ”
WHAT DOES THIS HAVE TO DO WITH ME?
Jewelry—or anything we wear—can become a form of idolatry. The Israelites discovered that when they melted down their earrings to make a golden calf.
How we look is an expression of who we are. Because of that, our style is tied to our pride. Everyone has his or her own individual “look,” and God doesn’t ask His people to give up individuality or wear uniforms, But He asks that we keep Him at the center of all our choices—and that includes our style and fashion choices.
What’s the message on your T-shirt? How much did you pay for those shoes? Are your rings and chains drawing attention to you, or to the Jesus who lives inside you? All of these are valid questions. They’re things we have to think about as Christians. Nothing is insignificant—everything we wear, say, and do makes a statement. Is your statement, “I love Jesus, and I’m letting Him transform me into His image”?
- What is this lesson trying to tell you?
- How should we classify the wearing of jewelry or expensive apparel?
- What is not considered wearing jewelry?
Read Thoughts from the Mount of Blessing, page 93. “No man cans serve two masters.” Matthew 6:24.
Look around your room and choose five things that you wear that you think define your “personal style” (they could be jewelry, clothes, hats, shoes, whatever). List each one below, and in the space next to it write what message you think people get from that item (e.g., does your black shirt say “I’m depressed”? Does your muscle shirt say “I have a great body, and I know it”?) Then look down through the messages. How do these messages reflect or not reflect the statements you want to make to the world? What messages that you are sending might you want to adapt or change, if any? Do you agree or disagree that you, personal style is a message?
Item 1:
Message
Item 2
Message
Item 3
Message
Item 4
Message
Item 5
Message