Book Review: Sade's

This is an inspirational book written by Sade Akanni for ladies in the society if Christendom. It explores the godly terms of what is considered beautiful in the sight of God. The main passage of the theme was extracted from the Holy Book 1 Peter 3:3-4 which states, “Don’t be concerned about the outward beauty of fancy hairstyles, expensive jewelry or beautiful clothes. Instead, you should clothe yourself with the beauty that comes from within, the unfading beauty of gentle and quiet spirit, which is so precious to God”. God’s concept of beauty is far different from a man’s idea as the man looks at the outward appearance but God looks at the heart.

There are existing arguments surrounding the context of what is considered beautiful. In the contemporary world, beauty is described by the jewelry a woman adorns herself with, the hairstyles, the clothing and now the expensive makeups.

The above scriptures quoted lays emphasis on the godly type of beauty which comes from within, this is however seen in the character of the individual. Throwing more emphasis on the issue of character, a gentle and quiet spirit is an appropriate definition of what the character of a woman should entail.

Beauty by Akanni was presented in two different types; the inward beauty and the outward beauty. The inward beauty is the spiritual part of the woman while the outward beauty is the ornaments we see with our physical eyes in describing a lady as beautiful.

It is, however unfortunate, that Christian women today are focused on their outward look and disregarding the spiritual life which is the very purpose of their existence. The inward beauty is what draws God to the need of a woman.

One may ask, what are the ornaments that make up the inward beauty? However, Sade Akanni outlines some ornament woman can use to clothe themselves inwardly and they are; a gentle spirit, a quiet spirit, and modesty. These are basic virtues every woman must adorn herself with to win the heart of God because this is what pleases God.

With respect to the gentle spirit, Akanni throws more light on how a woman should dress. Modesty must be a watchword. In this respect, the cost of our dressing, shoes, handbags, and jewelry must be modest at all times. For God is a jealous God and will not share his glory with anyone or anything. This, however, helps us not to keep these material things in our heart but, instead of the word of God which gives life.

A quiet spirit always remains humble and does not cling to anything even if it is theirs. This is humility at its best and Sade summarizes these ornaments in terms of humility and being of a lowly mind, for God himself resist the proud and grants grace to the humble.

The definition of beauty in human capacity and comprehension is solely different from how God requires it.

No matter how beautiful one may look on the outside, if she does not adorn herself with the ornaments of God, she will never find favor of attracting God into her life. Sade further added that there is nothing wrong trying to look beautiful outside, but one must focus on what makes them beauty inwardly for that is what pleases God Almighty.

In her final submission, she states that inner beauty is a secret key to the kingdom of God and that is why the devil is bent on drifting Christian women from the secret that brings God to them. A total focus on the outward appearance, ignoring spiritual growth breeds ugliness in due time. This is because any advice solicited from the devil only ends in doom and condemnation. God is, however, ready to receive us with open hands, therefore, it is necessary, we focus more on how we look on the inside than the outside.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Sade Akanni is a medical doctor by profession. She is married to a Nigerian prolific teacher of the Word of God, Bro. Gbile Akanni and she has been a strong support to the word of God.

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