A year ago my mom bought me a beautiful coffee mug with Proverbs 31:25 written in gold letters on the front: “Strength and dignity are her clothing, And she smiles at the future.” I like to think about that verse whenever I’m drinking coffee out of that mug. Lately I’ve been thinking about what it means to be clothed in strength and dignity.

The Hebrew word for strength is `oz, which also means boldness. I’m not a naturally outgoing or bold person. I’m a little bit shy and quiet, and I don’t like to be the center of attention. But I’ve been thinking a lot lately about what it means to be a strong, or bold, woman in the biblical sense. You see, the world is telling us that to be a strong woman, we need to be strutting our stuff, extremely vocal about women’s rights, and proud of our womanhood as we lord our “greatness” over men. The strength that the world promotes is all about pride, and it is not biblical strength.

Proverbs 8:13 “The fear of the Lord is to hate evil; Pride and arrogance and the evil way And the perverted mouth, I hate.”

The world is telling us to love haughtiness and pride, but Proverbs 6:16-17 tells us that God hates haughtiness. As Christians, we should hate what God hates and love what God loves, and we should be imitators of Christ. Christ was not prideful. Christ was humble.

Philippians 2:5-8 “Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.”

You might be asking, “but wait, is humility a strong quality? Isn’t humility a quality of the weak?” While the world tries to tell us this lie, I’ve found that it takes a lot more strength to be humble than to be proud. It takes a lot more strength to focus on Christ than to focus on myself. It takes a lot more strength to put others first instead of myself. It takes a lot more strength to obey Christ and live like Him than to do whatever I feel like doing.

A woman clothed with strength let’s Christ have the spotlight, while she steps out of the way (see John 3:30).

So how do we live with boldness and humility? Do they go together?  I believe they do.

1 Thessalonians 2:2 “but after we had already suffered and been mistreated in Philippi, as you know, we had the boldness in our God to speak to you the gospel of God amid much opposition.”

Proverbs 3:26 “For the Lord will be your confidence And will keep your foot from being caught.”

Being a confident or bold Christian isn’t confidence in your own ability, but confidence in our God, who is our strength, guide, hope, peace, joy, help, and so much more.

This is what makes a Christian woman clothed with strength: she has put Christ as first-place in her life and she has placed her confidence in Him.

So now that we’ve talked about strength, let’s talk about being clothed with dignity. The Hebrew word for dignity is hadar, which means magnificence, splendor, excellency, honor, or majesty.

When I think of dignity, I often picture a princess dressed in a beautiful gown. She’s always smiling and kind to everyone. She carries herself well – she doesn’t walk around slouched or with her arms crossed. Her arms are open and she’s ready to assist others. She laughs easily, but not at anything crude. She is honest, but she doesn’t gossip or share more than what’s needed, and she treats everyone with respect. Because of these qualities, others see her as a wonderful princess.

While we aren’t physical princesses, spiritually speaking, we are princesses. God is the King of the universe, and, being His daughters, that makes us princesses. As the King’s daughters, should we not carry ourselves well, make others feel welcome, smile and laugh (but never laughing at things that dishonor our Father), be honest but not gossipy, and treat everyone with respect because they’re God’s creation?

A woman clothed in dignity is a woman that uses her words and actions to show others who Jesus is.

My prayer for myself, and for all of us, is that we will learn to be women clothed with strength and dignity. Let us always point others to Christ through our words, actions, and attitudes!

With love,

Kelsey