Sunday, April 26, 2015

Why Modesty Is Such a Big Deal...

There is so much information thrown around about modesty.  
It gets overwhelming and kinda 'old' at the same time.  
I've even seen articles about the 'idolatry of modesty'
 which suggest that anything we pay too much attention 
to can be an idol and thus 'not good'.  Oh boy...

May I just share what to me is one glaring reason why modesty 
needs to be a huge deal?  Because immodesty can make someone 
stumble... as in sensually desire someone that is not their wife.  
And Jesus calls lusting after someone that is not their wife 'adultery'. Matt. 5:28.  

  Now we can say that a man needs to have the 
responsibility of guarding his eyes and thought life.   And of course - this is true.  
After all - a girl can be dressed entirely properly and
 a guy can still have an impure thought when he looks at her -  
if that is his intent. 

But for us women - Jesus has a very pointed and plain truth we need to consider.  
He said in Luke 17:1 that offences or things that cause people 
to stumble exist - but 'woe' to the person through whom they exist.  
We do not want to get a 'woe' from Jesus.   To get an idea 
of how strong this language is - later in Luke 22:22
 Jesus uses this same word to pronounce judgment 
on the man who betrays Jesus. 
Uh oh - we don't want to be in that camp.

Like it or not - we, as girls, do have a responsibility.
  There should be no reason why a godly girl would
 want to be sensually enticing in public. 

That being said - I don't see anywhere that we can't be a woman 
of beauty.  God loves beauty - just look at his flowers. 
And God made women naturally beautiful with a natural 
desire to be attractive.  But anytime - any time - we publicly 
accentuate or reveal (through tightness, drawing attention to, 
accenting, nakedness etc.) an area of sensual beauty - we err.  

Rather - let's go forth with a pure and modest beauty.  
I'm pretty sure we all know the difference...

Walk in beauty today!  ~Joyce

3 comments:

Linda said...

Very well said Joyce. It is embarrassing to go anywhere.I don't understand women thinking so little of themselves that they must show their bodies to get attention.
Linda

Regina said...

Thank you Joyce for this post. Unfortunately the world is very anti modesty. We are bombarded with stories of celebrity women wearing skin tight clothes, barely there dresses, etc.
It's really embarrassing.
I get really odd looks from people because I dress like the mom in you post. Now where I live no one else dresses in long dresses and a head covering.
Some of my friends came up to visit last week and oh the stares we got because of the way we were dressed. You'd think we were a bunch of Martians!

Unknown said...

Oh I agree. I dress in long dresses and skirts and did head coverings for awhile. Oh the comments I got. I was even accused of not being a good representative of the church (my husband is a pastor).

I agree on modesty for women, but I do believe Christian men have a responsibility, too. The husband in the above picture with the Mennonite woman strikes me so wrong. She's dressed modestly and his jeans are hugging him too tightly. See what's highlighted?