A Crown of Glory

There was an advertisement some years ago with a little song that said, “I’m gonna wash that gray right out of my hair…” If you remember that commercial you might have a gray hair or two. If you’ve never heard that, your day’s comin’!

Many try to hide their gray hair, but you know the Scripture gives honor to the person with a gray head! Proverbs 16:31 says, The hoary head is a crown of glory, if it be found in the way of righteousness. Note the word, “if” in the middle of the verse. Not everyone with gray hair has a crown of glory – only the person who is a righteous person and is walking in the way of righteousness. A righteous person is someone who has trusted the Lord Jesus Christ as their Savior and been made right with God. It’s nothing that person does – it’s all through Christ’s sacrifice on the cross on our behalf. When we receive what He did for us, we are cleansed from our sin and made right. We are at that moment adopted into the family of God!

I wonder if one reason that a person who has gray hair and is walking in a godly way is lifted up in this passage is because this is a person who has perhaps walked with God for many years and has stayed right! This is someone who has said “no” to the world and what it would offer to perhaps do without so they could serve the Lord. They haven’t retired from serving God in their personal life. They are looking for opportunities to share their testimony and lead someone to the Gospel of Christ. They’ve stayed by the stuff and now in their later years when their hair has turned frosty, they are still faithfully serving the God who saved them years ago.

If your hair has grayed, ask yourself, “Am I walking in the way of righteousness? Would others know that I am a child of God if they watched my life, listened to my conversations, and saw what I do with my free time?

If you’re too young for gray hair, ask yourself how you’re preparing for the day of the gray head. You know, you are what you have been becoming. Are you making it a priority to walk in a way that honors God? If you’re saved, but you’re jumping off the way of the righteous to do something questionable, say what you’re feeling, or participate in something that dishonors the Lord, your gray hair will probably never be a crown of glory.

May we ask the Lord for grace to endure. May you and I be found “in the way of the righteous” when our hair turns from its youthful shade to gray. It will then become our crown!

With love,

P.S. Still keeping my upcoming hair appointment! =)