Being Modest

Okay so here I go again with another tough one. What is Modest clothing really? Where I go to church most people dress pretty modest in the eyes of the world today but is it really modest in the eyes of God? Well I also felt most of the time I was pretty modest but as a search the scriptures I started to believe that maybe i was really not that modest. I normally wear jeans and a shirt, could be a t-shirt, sweater or what ever. Okay so that shouldn't be too bad but what about the way clothes are made today. They are mostly form fitting and jeans oh boy can you actually find a pair of jeans that doesn't show all of your parts??

So here I go.........

First off I want to show you all a verse. Deuteronomy 22:5 " A woman shall not wear anything that pertains to a man, nor shall an man put on a woman's garment, for all who do so are an abomination to the Lord your God." So lets break this one down. So what comes to mind after reading this? Earrings, necklaces, long hair and dresses on men, short hair, and pants on women. Lets look at the word "abomination". It is used to describe how God feels about cross-dressing. If you look the word up in the dictionary it means "extreme disgust and hatred ; Loathing. Wow that is a pretty strong word. While most church going people react with disgust when seeing men cross-dressing on the street but they will defend a women wearing pants. But according to Deuteronomy 22:5 it does NOT say that it is worse for a man to dress like a women it says that it is an abomination for either sexes to dress like the other.

Okay so then we think Yeah, but it is in the Old Testament and if it is not repeated in the New Testament then it does not pertain to today's Christians. Well in the New Testament it is even more specific in 1 Timothy 2:9 .......that the women adorn themselves in modest apparel.....

So "apparel" today is a very general term that means "any article of clothing" But if you look the word apparel up in 1611 in the Oxford English Dictionary that hast archaic meaning of words you will find that it means " loose flowing garment". I believe that God is giving a CLEAR distinction between the appearance of a man and a woman. It is also repeated in 1 Corinthians 11 when Paul deals with the issue of hair length. God is very concerned with our out ward appearance of a saved person. To believe differently is to profess ignorance of Gods word.

Now I know that I or anyone will not lose their salvation if they don't dress this way or if they do not do many of the things He has asked of us, because of His Grace. God loves us all. My thing is if he has asked us to do these things then why don't we do them. You and I both know that when we follow God he blesses us with many things. Not with stuff but with the things we need like people in our lives.

I was reading an article and I just loved it and wanted to share it with you on this subject. i hope you enjoy.

"Yeah, but pants are not really that immodest"

The following is from What in the World Should I Wear? by Mrs. Cathy Corle:

"A friend of mine told me that her decision to restrict her wardrobe to dresses and skirts came as a result of a ladies’ class. All the arguments and reasons that could be given were unheeded until the lady who was speaking said, ‘Let me just demonstrate something to you.’ She asked the ladies in the audience to close their eyes momentarily. She held up a large picture of a woman in an attractive, modest feminine skirt and blouse. She asked the ladies to open their eyes. Then she inquired, ‘What is the primary focal point to this picture? Where did your eyes first fall naturally?’ The audience agreed that their eyes were first drawn to the face of the woman in the picture.

"She once again asked the ladies to close their eyes. When they opened their eyes they were looking at a large poster of a woman in a sport shirt and blue jeans. She asked, ‘Now, be honest with yourselves, and tell me where your eyes first fell naturally when you looked at this picture?’ Many of the ladies in the crowd were surprised to find that most people’s eyes first focused upon the hips and crotch area that were so vividly emphasized before they ever noticed the woman’s face.

"If this happened in a crowd of ladies, how much more would it be true of men? For my friend, Joetta, this was all the ‘evidence’ that was needed."

To this I say, "AMEN!" Christian women should always be aware of Matthew 5:28,

"But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart. "

"Yeah, but wearing pants may be wrong for some saved women, but I’m not ‘convicted’ about it."

So you’re not "convicted" about wearing pants? Does that give you permission to rebel against the Word of God? You must ask yourself, "What is the FINAL AUTHORITY on deciding what I believe and how I live? The Bible? Or how I ‘feel’ convicted?"

Jeremiah 17:9 - The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?

Proverbs 14:12 - There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.

Human feelings are very deceptive. We cannot rely on them. Any "leading" you may feel to do or not to do something that is contrary to the Word of God is not of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit NEVER leads contrary to the Bible, but He always leads according to the Bible.

Ephesians 6:17 - And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God:

I John 5:7-8 - For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one. And there are three that bear witness in earth, the Spirit, and the water, and the blood: and these three agree in one.

Many people claim not to be "convicted" about forsaking church attendance, drinking alcohol, smoking, gambling, cursing, fornication, adultery, and all manner of activities clearly forbidden in the Bible, but that does not make it all right for them to do these things. I John 4:1 warns us,

"Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world."

To try and say that wearing pants may be wrong for some saved women and not for others is to engage in moral relativism which strips all authority from God’s Word. God does not have two sets of standards. He is no respecter of persons.

Acts 10:34 - Then Peter opened his mouth, and said, Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons:

Wearing pants is either wrong for ALL saved women, or it is wrong for none. In deciding if something is right or wrong, our first consideration must ALWAYS be what the Word of God says, not how we may "feel convicted."

Ecclesiastes 12:13 -14 - Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man. For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil.

Follow the Bible, and you’ll be doing what is right. Follow your feelings, emotions, leadings, etc., and who knows what you’ll be doing?

"Yeah, but wearing pants is not really that big of an issue, and they are much more comfortable and practical to wear"

It’s kind of funny that for nearly 6000 years, women always wore long dresses, but only since the last 40 years, a dress is suddenly "impractical" to wear. You cannot change history to validate what you want to make acceptable for today. Nowadays, women think that they cannot so much as rake a few leaves without adorning themselves in a pair of pants.

If you saw a man wearing a dress, what would you call him? Uh-huh, you would have no trouble knowing that it was wrong, and an abomination to God (even if his dress had a fly). But we have been conditioned by the world and erring brethren that a pair of pants is a good and acceptable thing for a woman to wear today. Just because it is common does not make it right. In fact, I believe that it is all part of Satan’s plan to further defile mankind by mixing the genders. Have you noticed how wimpy the boys are getting and how masculine the girls are getting? Women’s sports are becoming the rage. We would rather have our girls learn how to "Kill ‘em on the court" than to learn to be chaste and skilled at homemaking. This is how we have come to put our women in military combat positions. We would have never even considered this 20 years ago, but now we are eliminating the difference in the sexes that God made.

Oh there will always be a difference in gender, because there HAS to be. But now, the emphasis is not on the beauty of a girl’s femininity (which brings out the masculinity in a man). NOW the emphasis in the difference in BODY PARTS! There is no longer the striking difference between a beautiful woman in feminine attire, long pretty hair, and a masculine man that practices chivalry. (Put a real feminine woman around a man and see how chivalrous he becomes.) Now the difference is emphasized in her physical body difference, which is leads to lust and a degradation of womanhood! (and manhood too). A feminine woman is in her rightful place of an elevated position. But as soon as she steps down off her pedestal to wear pants and be "equal" to a man, it drags everybody down, which is exactly what Satan wants. The devil is still whispering in Eve's ear to destroy mankind.

If you look at it, you’ll find it was usually the woman that lead in the matters of sin and error. You can begin at the garden, through Israel’s idolatrous apostasy and even into recent history, with cults, Charasmania, and other errors. Now the boys are wearing earrings and have long hair, while the girls are wearing pants and chopping their hair off, even though this is forbidden in scripture (I Corinthians 11). To top it off, most preachers will not preach against short hair and pants because this would affect a majority of the women in his congregation including his wife and daughters!

Ladies, we are in the world...not to be of the world! AMEN