In the past month we have been looking at God’s command to the woman to bring forth children and to serve her husband. We have seen how these commands can be applied to us as single women looking for marriage and in preparation for marriage and motherhood. Another important calling that God gives us is that we be modest in apparel and in our actions. 1 Corinthians 6:18-20 commands us to glorify God in our bodies and at the same time to flee fornication, “Flee fornication. Every sin that a man doeth is without the body; but he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body. What? Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own: For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.”
That this passage speaks first of fleeing fornication and sinning against our own bodies puts into me the awareness that we are called as God’s children to be modest. Our bodies are where the Holy Ghost dwells. God lives in us! And we always need to remember that in the way we dress. It is so easy, with trends and styles of clothing that the world tells us are beautiful or “cute,” to forget how important it is to cover ourselves. Girls and young women, you may be comfortable wearing short skirts or low V-cut shirts even to church, but why? Wearing those things to “look good” should not be our focus or goal. In fact, men, boys, older women like your mothers, grandmothers, and even a lot of your peers will tell you that wearing those kinds of clothes really isn’t that attractive. It gives you the wrong kind of attention, and to put it bluntly, can be the cause for a man to lust. Yes, that is sin, but it is also a sin to dress in a way that makes it easy for a man to fall into temptation. Girls, we have that kind of power, and that should make you cautious about how you dress! And that is why God calls us to flee fornication first. As a young woman, who are we trying to attract? Think about it. Personally, I believe that the man who loves me loves me for who I am on the inside first, and I do not want to place a temptation before him that will cause him to fall from chastity before that day when we can express our love in a sexual way as husband and wife. I want him to see me as a modest, Godly woman, whose love for God is seen in how I cover the body that He has given to me. Now, please don’t think I’m perfect or that I always think that way. Yes, I fall into sins too and don’t always WANT to be modest, but as young women, let’s encourage each other to love to think and dress that way.
1 Corinthians 6 also points out that our bodies are not our own. Our body is really a gift from God and we must use it to glorify Him! The best way we can do that is not pridefully trying to show it off to everyone, but humbly and gratefully serving Him with a modest heart and spirit. 1 Peter 3:3 brings this out as well, “Whose adorning let it not be that outward adorning of plaiting the hair, and of wearing of gold, or of putting on of apparel; But let it be the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of Great Price.” God looks at the heart, and He sees those meek, gentle women, who do not seek to glorify themselves, but to honor God first, and He calls them beautiful. Truly, those women who seek first to glorify God in everything will not want to draw wrong attention to themselves by their outward actions, and also by their dress. 1 Tim 2:9, “In like manner also, that women adorn themselves in modest apparel…”
So let’s encourage each other. Next time you go shopping, or next time I do, remember what God’s word has to say and think of those close to you. Have fun shopping! But always keep in mind our calling to glorify God in our bodies.
LK
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