Modesty

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A couple of weeks ago a friend of mine was invited to a costume ball. He and his wife drove an hour to the big city costume rental-all where they expected to find a matching “his and hers” ensemble that would make a big splash at the big bash. Unfortunately, while there were plenty of options there for him (pirate, indian, cowboy) in every case the corresponding female costume was some skimpy, skanked-out number, far too risqué for his wife. They left empty handed.

Another friend of mine, just yesterday, commented on how he can’t even take his daughters shopping at Old Navy because everything there is so tight and short. He wants his daughters to look nice and fit in at school but he doesn’t want to dress them like tramps. Not an easy task in today’s culture.

Here is the Apostle Paul in1 Tim 2:9-10 “And I want women to be modest in their appearance. They should wear decent and appropriate clothing and not draw attention to themselves by the way they fix their hair or by wearing gold or pearls or expensive clothes. For women who claim to be devoted to God should make themselves attractive by the good things they do.”

It seems in Paul’s day the big issue among ladies fashion in the church was that they had a tendency to wear too much; too much gold, silver, fancy-shmancy braided hair- an overall excess of bling. But today it seems that the dilemma in the church is that women have a tendency to wear too little.

At the risk of sounding like an uptight prude, I truly think that, in the church, among believers, there is very little today in the way of modesty. I honestly do not think that a large percentage of the church has any clue about what propriety is. We live in a culture that has been pornified. Women in their underwear sell us burgers, websites, music and cereal. And because the world around us is so completely sleazed-out, many Christian women think that just by wearing some clothes they are taking a stand for modesty.

Even at the church I attend there is a proliferation of skin tight pants, form fitting “nothing to the imagination” t-shirts, mini-skirts, short-shorts, and low cut jeans that have brought “plumbers bum” to epidemic proportions. It seems that when given a choice between dressing in style or dressing in modesty – style wins most every time. I have had heard more than one young man complain that it’s very difficult to focus on the Lord at church when so many of the congregants are dressed in a way that puts the focus on them.

Ladies, would you give some serious thought to the things I have just said. Resist the urge to label me a legalist or goody-two-shoes and really ask yourself. “is what I am wearing modest?” Not modest compared to Brittney Spears or VH1, but modesty as defined by the Holy Spirit, wisdom and love for the men who are coming to church wanting to see Jesus and not your shape.