A crown of beauty is the gray head found in the way of righteousness.
Proverbs 16.31
We are a culture obsessed with the appearance of youth. When a middle-aged or older man or woman is told, “You look so young,” it is taken as a compliment. To keep those compliments coming, we will do everything from taking supplements to having surgeries; we dress young, nip and tuck everything we can, color our hair, and apply stuff with hyaluronic acid to our faces because it sounds like the model knows what she’s talking about. Forever young is our aim.
There is nothing inherently wrong with wanting to maintain as much youthful vitality as possible. The curse that works through our bodies should be fought just as we fight the thorns and thistles of the ground. But there are certain aspects of aging that we should joyfully accept. Solomon tells his son that gray hair is one of those glories.
One theme that runs through Proverbs is that of exaltation and its means. Our all-glorious God created us with an appetite for glory or exaltation. That appetite drives us in our dominion project just as our appetite for food drives us to find ways to be fed. We want to be more and have more. Sometimes we want the wrong kind of glory and/or we pursue glory in a sinful way, but the fundamental appetite for glory is God-given. It is, after all, the promised end of our salvation (cf. e.g., Rom 8.18-30).
In this life, God crowns us with glory in the form of gray hair. We tend to look at it as a negative sign of aging. Our bodies aren’t producing the amount of melanin that they once did, and when our hair falls out and comes back in … if it comes back in … it is then gray. That may be how gray hair is formed, but that is not what gray hair is. Gray hair is a crown of beauty, a gift given by God, so that we can look more like him.
That’s right. God has “gray hair” … or white hair, pretty much the same thing. In Daniel 7 the Son of Man ascends to the Ancient of Days seated on his throne. His hair is white as wool. John sees the ascended Christ in Revelation 1 and he has the same color hair. Both are described as those who are mature and thus qualified to be enthroned to rule. Our gray hair is a gift that is a calling, reminding us that we are to act mature and be wise like our mature God and Savior.
We may all become gray, but it is only beautiful when it sits on the head of a righteous person. When you see an old man who has been faithful for 50, 60, or 70 years, trusting God, being a good husband, good father, diligent worker, etc., there is respect that comes with that. When you see an older lady who has been a faithful woman, wife, and mother, serving Christ’s church, many times without a great amount of fanfare, just solid faithfulness with a meek and quiet spirit, there is a beauty in that commands respect. The beauty of youth fades like vapor (Pr 31.30), but it morphs into a different and deeper beauty with age. This is the beauty that is to attract youth; this weightiness, this dignity, the outcome of their lives, should attract those seeking wisdom to say, “That’s the way I want my life to be.” This is one of Solomon’s purposes here with his son. “Son, you see that gray head that is found in righteousness, the dignity, respect, gravitas, and wisdom of that man? That’s what you should be your aspiration.”
When you color your hair, you are not necessarily in sin. But why are you doing it? Do you believe it is ugly, seeing it as some sort of demotion, trying to hold on to something God is telling you to let go of? If God considers it beautiful and we don’t, what does that say about us? We need new eyes.
This is God’s crown of glory for the righteous. Whether the society around us recognizes it or not, it is God’s gift, and he loves to see you delight in his gifts. Gray hair shouldn’t be grudgingly accepted. It’s the crown that signifies God’s promotion. Wear it well.
* Photo by JJ Jordan on Unsplash
