Modesty...Honestly? - Part 1
The tundra is beginning to melt away in Nearly, Canada and the people have come out of their igloos. Yesterday the temperatures soared to a balmy 60 degrees and with the warm weather the warm weather clothing comes out of the wardrobe.
Yesterday I strapped on my running sneakers and headed to the out-of-doors to pound the pavement. As I ran I noticed that I was not the only one with this idea. There were many people of many shapes and sizes out and about. I noticed that the majority of clothing (especially women's clothing) is not made for comfort but for fashion. You cannot tell me that skin-tight anything is comfortable (or fashionable, in my opinion). As I ran I began to think about a conversation that occurred in our church last summer. The teaching pastor had a very frank discussion during the Sunday School hour about modesty in clothing. Later that week he gave those in the congregation the manuscript of a lecture presented to women at a well-known church in California. The lecture was entitled Modesty Matters (the full manuscript can be viewed here).
Over the next few days I will post a few key points from this manuscript. Again, this was a lecture presented to women by a woman. This instruction is not coming from me - although if I was a woman (and I am not) I would certainly speak these same truths.
We, as Christian women, should look different from the world. What does it tell us in Romans 12, verse 1, “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God…and do not be conformed to this world” [Romans 12:1-2]. We are not to dress like the women of the world, but we are to be “transformed.” The women of the world don’t know any better. When I go to the mall I don’t expect to see modesty, but when I come to church I do. But I am sad to say that too many times, when you see a group of girls
standing around, there is very little difference in dress between those who profess to know Christ and those who don’t.
5 comments:
Good stuff, Vince. I'm looking forward to the excerpts. I think I'll let you toss out the most important stuff and then I'll read the whole thing later.
By the way, I'm pretty excited that you're reading The Religious Affections. I think it should be required Christian reading. Let me know what you think.
Just so you know, it helps in understanding the book if you understand for whom he's writing, which you might already. If not, Wikipedia would be an easy place to get the broader picture - the article called "Jonathan Edwards" and the subpoint in that article, "The Great Awakening" is good.
Yours,
'Bou
The author of the document you cite wrote: "When I go to the mall I don’t expect to see modesty, but when I come to church I do."
I would add that I when I go to the mall, I would expect to see modest dress on the women I see in church on Sunday.
Randy/Dad
Right on, Vince's Dad. I'm 100% with you there.
good stuff vince. i'm forwarding it to some of my former youth workers...
Just catching up on some reading other than the reproductive system, which is the last system we are learning about.
Modesty...I havent read ahead but I hope some women weigh in on this topic. Great Topic. I use to go to one of those Hottie Churches. Granted, this is mainly a mans struggle but I have some Sisters that would like to see some guys use a little modesty as well.
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