It’s hot out!! I say that as I sit in my air conditioned office nearly needing a sweatshirt to stay warm while the air is on and then immediatly sweating when it goes off. As the temperature rises, the amount of clothing that people, particularly women, wear decreases. Unfortunately this trend does not stop among church people. We all must ask ourselves, why do we wear what we wear?
Peter reminds women in 1 Peter 3 that beauty is best when it comes from the heart, the imperishable quality of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is precious in the sight of God. Beauty is more internal than external. If you applied the time you spend on enhancing your outward appearance to your heart, would you look different? Now, does that mean that this becomes the standard or is there another way to think about dress and fashion in regards to our world. In other words, since the world abuses fashion by making it inappropriate do we simply abandon it altogether and seek to cover as much skin as possible? Or is it possible to be fashion conscious while upholding the principles of modesty found in the Bible? For example, the world has abused sexual intimacy. As believers our job is to show the world the beauty of sexual intimacy in its proper context as defined by God. Can we do the same with fashion?
I can’t really answer the question because I usually ask my wife to make sure I match and I shave my head so that I don’t have to comb my hair. I am ignorant in most things fashion. This blog series is very helpful for thinking through some of these issues. There are seven parts to the series so make sure you read them all(2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7). There are a couple of other posts under the category of modesty that are also excellent. Finally, on a very practical level here is an effort by these ladies to attempt to pursue biblical modesty and true beauty.
Women, please read this material and consider implementing those things you find biblically based. I will leave you with a short quote from this testimony.
I began to understand the heart and soul of modesty. Modesty is humility expressed in dress, a desire to serve others, neither promoting nor provoking sensuality or lust. It is rooted in a desire to lose any and all consideration of self and live hidden behind the cross of Christ. I became more and more aware that my dress was not an outward expression of the gospel, or humility. I began by aggressively examining my wardrobe.
When I first started reading this I tought it was addressing guys, natural frame of reference I guess, but most guys are probably more or less not affected. Either like me they wake up and grab the top shirt and pants out of the drawer and leave the house before someone with good sense (my wife in my case) says “Wait a minute, you look like wierdo.” or they were alone and…look like a wierdo. I still think though that there are some issues for men; I hate wearing my shirt when it is hot. A: its hot and B: its cooler without one. For me it is important to ask myself why I have my shirt off and to try and be concious of the crowd I am with. Just as it is with the girls it is important not to examine the legalities of what you are wearing (or not wearing) but to examine your heart in the matter and what consequences it may have on others.
One thing I did find interesting was this quote by “Jack” or “Kevin” or something:
“I think modesty is so attractive in friendships because it makes it easier for a friendship to be centered around God and for fellowship to be unhindered.”
This Jack guy is probably an amazing Christain and the type of guy a girl would love to have the attention of, but it seems misleading. Dressing modestly (even if it is very beautiful) is never going to be as easy as being immodest. The attention paid to you by men/boys by being modest will be overshadowed by that paid to you had you chosen to dress a little more provocative. Thinking that you will somehow get more attention by respecting the hearts of the men/boys you are around is only partly true. Good men/boys will respect you but at the cost that other women who lack the moral character you have, will probably recieve much more attention.
Nick, I have thought you looked like a weirdo only a couple of times. Are you saying that even if a man is interested in character he will still give more attention to someone who is dressed immodestly? If so, is he truly interested in a woman’s moral character?
Thought that was confusing.
A man who is interested in character will definetly give more attention to a woman who is dressed modestly.
A man who is NOT interested in character (and this in our world is a majority) will give his attention to those dressed immodestly.
If by dressing modestly you hope to gain attention of men you are fooled two fold. First you will recieve less total attention from all men and second you are missing the point of dressing modestly in the first place.