A young woman came into a store wearing clothes that showed her body all too well. The shop owner, being a wise, older man, took a good look at her, and asked her to sit down. He looked straight into her eyes and said something she would never forget for the rest of her life.
“Young lady, everything that God has made valuable in this world, is covered up and hard to see or find. For example: Where can you find diamonds? In the ground, covered and protected. Where are pearls found? Deep in the ocean, covered and protected in a beautiful shell. Where can you find gold? Underground, covered with layers of rock, and to get there you have to work very hard and dig deep.”
He looked at her again, and said, “Your body is sacred and unique to God. You are far more precious than gold, diamonds, and pearls. Therefore, you need to be covered, too.”
Then he added: “If you keep your precious minerals like gold, diamonds, and pearls deeply covered, a reputable mining organization, with the necessary machines, will work for years to mine those precious goods. First, they will contact your government (family). Second, they will sign professional contracts (marriage). Third, they will professionally extract those goods, and tenderly refine them (married life), to enhance their value even more.”
“But if you let your minerals find themselves on top of the earth’s surface (exposed to everyone), you will always attract many illegal miners who will come to exploit, and freely take those riches and leave you without the precious goods God gave you.”
“Remember, You are too valuable to be wasted illegally. Class is more desirable than trash.” (Author unknown).
When I have discussions with ladies about modesty, the conversation usually ends up with some wanting to specify items of clothing as modest or immodest. That can be done with some clothing, but not everything. For instance, an evening gown might be modest; but it wouldn’t be modest in the Lord’s assembly. The reason is it is not appropriate attire for the situation.
The definition of modest according to The New Oxford American Dictionary is,
“dressing or behaving so as to avoid impropriety or indecency, especially to avoid attracting sexual attention (typically used of a woman): (of clothing) not revealing or emphasizing the figure.”
Based on this definition, you can see why an evening gown would not be appropriate to wear to worship. It would draw attention to the individual wearing it.
When we begin to measure our items of clothing by this standard, many will begin to justify what they are wearing by the event rather than the article of clothing. So, how do we decide? Let’s look at Scripture for our guide. We could go to First Timothy 2:9 for some direction, but Paul is speaking in this text about proper attire in the assembly. However, if it was the appropriate attire in the assembly, it is certainly true for women’s attire in general. We can’t say we must be modest in worship but not in daily life.
Let’s look rather at one of the first sermon’s recorded by Jesus. Matthew 5 is the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount. Verse 8 says, “Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.” That verse says it all. There is no need to discuss specific items of clothing or explicit events. If a woman has a pure heart, she will know what to wear and what not to wear.
Later, Jesus said, “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matthew 6:21). If the Christian woman desires the treasures of heaven, she will want to keep her heart pure, and she will want to convey that to the world in her dress, her speech, and her way of life.
Paul told Timothy, “So flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart” (Second Timothy 2:22). If we analyze what we wear by our desire to have a pure heart, will our choices be any different?
When Jesus was teaching about adultery later in Matthew 5, He said: “But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart” (verse 28). It is likely that the Pharisees put their emphasis on the literal act of adultery. However, Jesus makes it clear that even the looking at a woman to arouse lustful thoughts is committing the act in the heart. By having lustful thoughts, they violated the seventh commandment.
Now to the question we as women need to consider. If the man will be judged for thinking lustful thoughts, how much less will the woman be judged for causing the lustful thoughts?
So, what is the reason you want to wear a particular item of clothing? Is it to look sexy? Is it to draw attention? Is it to seduce? Is it to fulfill the command to have a pure heart? Only you can answer.
Sandra Oliver