Good morning,

Psalm 149:4-5
4 For the Lord takes pleasure in his people;
he adorns the humble with salvation.
5 Let the godly exult in glory;
let them sing for joy on their beds.

When we think of the concept of "taking care of yourself" outside of the parameters of the gospel, automatically the thought of vacation, day spas, hobbies, or simply buying yourself something to enjoy comes to mind. All these things are great and can be refreshing, but the theme throughout the Bible for "taking care of yourself" is to grow in Christ and explore the depths of our salvation by His grace.

In this passage the word "adorn" means to beautify or glorify. As Christians we can easily think like the world and believe that taking pleasure in ourselves is to "adorn" or "beautify" ourselves outwardly only, and think somehow that brings about a transformation to who we are. Woman get "pressed" by this daily with endless beauty products and weight loss gimmicks to feel "beautiful", but men are "hammered" as well in a variety of ways that looks to capitalize off of something we should feel inadequate about. Though we may feel good about ourselves outwardly at times, such things cannot touch the soul and make a person whole.

Salvation is the blessed privilege to be delivered from the inward bondage of sin, which is on-going, and not final until Christ return. Jesus came that we would reverse how we think about ourselves so materialistically, and realize that what better get our closest attention is who we really are, not what people perceive us to be because we look a certain way. People may be enamored about how we look or what we do, while we live with the inward despair of not knowing the greater beauty of who we really are as recipients of a glorious salvation!

In His Love, Ld