Externals

I Samuel 16:7
  "But the Lord said to Samuel, "Do not consider his appearance or height, for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.""

  Living as the offspring of the marriage of the spiritual and physical is burdensome. On the one hand we are souls that will live into eternity, but on the other hand we are trapped inside the skins that are going to die one day. Our identity comes not from our bodies, but from our spirits.
  The physical side of us takes so much of our time. We have to clothe our bodies and keep them clean. We have to feed them and maintain their health and strength. It is not hard to take care of these things though. We can see our bodies. If they are in need of something it is easy to tell. Often we spend so much time caring about the externals, we forget that they are only temporary.
  We also, as a general rule, see people before we get to know them, and their appearance tends to affect our perception of them. Then, we use our own appearance to manipulate other's opinions of us. Everyone know the girls who overdo it on their makeup or the guys who spend hours in the gym working on the external, but I think Christians spend just as much time on our externals as well. And we usually do it in an attempt to look more spiritual.
  Having grown up both in church and the homeschooled community, I have seen this a lot. At times, I was one of those good little homeschooled kids who dressed the right way. I wore my fair share of long skirts and WWJD bracelets. Though my parents never enforced this belief, I think in some ways the externals of my "more spiritual" peers made me think the way you dressed made you a better or worse Christian. There are plenty of girls who wear plain clothing because, "Appearances do not matter." Oh the irony. When you get a sense of faux-godliness from your apparel, you are missing the point.
  And I am not saying either primping or long skirts are wrong. I admittedly do both. It is just that our identity as Christians does not come from those things. We do not need to worry about putting our best face forward, we need to be Christ to people and forget about ourselves.