You know, when I first saw this topic of IMMODESTY included in the list of social issues facing the church it didn't quite ring true that it was a problem. However, once I began thinking about it and as it was presented in a study guide, the inclusion did make sense.
Even before delving into the Scriptues and the questions Rob Harbison asks in his Bible Study Guide entitled 'Moral Issues Facing the Church', I thought of some examples right off the top of my head. In a hot climate or in the summer season, most of us like to wear clothing that allows wisps of breeze to cool our flesh as much as possible: shorts and T-shirts or sundesses - less is best scenario - helping us keep cooler.
In the area where I live, some girls do wear shorts and T-shirts but the shorts are so short, one questions whether they are wearing anything at all below their T-shirt. In summer sunbathing areas, there are both guys and girls who supposedly are wearing something but whatever infinitesimal scrap of swimswear they have donned, well, it doesn't leave much to the imagination as to what the little that is not exposed, looks like.
On the other hand, I've seen many fully dressed, having a wonderful time in the sea, playing on the beach or walking along the seashore. By "fully dressed" I mean, long sweat pants, a long-sleeved blouse, dress or shirt and skirt, head covered, in the heat of tropical sun.
This is from one extreme to the other.
As always, such issues as immodesty can be all relative to the culture and society in which one resides. As such, as the pendulum swings one way or the other, can we still seek a more logical, reasonable standard of modesty? What can it be based upon? Let's find out.
To some degree, immodesty is a relative concern. It often depends upon a religious society, or lack thereof. Generally speaking, there is an acceptance/tolerance level of a populace's general consensus but individuals also have their own personal definitions. This definitely makes it harder to pin down and judge what the actual standard of modesty should be.
For example, I know that going to government offices requires 'more coverage' and so whenever I need to visit such places in the area I live, I wear a very long skirt and a T-shirt with sleeves but not necessarily long sleeves, which is still acceptable. One day, I had the long skirt but had totally forgotten about the T-shirt, and wore a sleeveless one. My mind was on the documents needed, not so much on the dress code. Anyway, my turn came and I was told to go and put on one of the spare jackets hanging up behind me. Oh no! Furthermore, I was told, by the woman employee, who was about my same age, which is not really 'a young thing' anymore, that I was "too sexy"!
If it had not been quite so serious a matter in hand with very possible offense, angerment and public banishment and humiliation, and I really did want to accomplish the necessary work, I would have laughed uproariously! Never in a million years had I thought anyone could have said such about me! Nevertheless, I did manage to control my facial features - somewhat. I was just glad it was during COVID time and I was wearing a mask.
For a follower of Jesus Christ, society's view of modesty is not always a good rule of thumb to which to adhere. Romans 12:2 tells us,
"Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is - His good, pleasant and perfect will".
When, as Christians, we commit to doing God's will, we will investigate His Word and listen to the Holy Spirit's guidance in any matter, including the level of modesty we will personally maintain.
It is not always the easier path in navigating through a peer group's standard. If a person is willing to have their life led according to these verses from Matthew 7:13-14, they will give comfort and guidance for his or her own code of conduct.
"Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it."
May I encourage each and everyone of us who profess Christ to be among those "few". God bless your coming in and going out when you are.
When a believer wishes to please the Lord, then they will make their view of modesty to stick closely to God's way, and not be guided by society's view, nor will he or she allow its fluctuations to determine and change theirs. May the steadfast love of the Lord be the motivating force to keep us all unwavering in doing what pleases Him even in this aspect.
I believe that it is possible for a Christian's manner of dress to set him or her apart from the world. Modest dress will be obvious in an immodest standard setting. However, it could make a person a vulnerable target for ridicule. This would be a price to pay for Christ; the cost of living for Him. We need to ask ourselves, will I pay it? I fervently pray so; after all, the narrow path will lead to life even if it doesn't seem like it in this day and age.
The type of clothing a person wears can reflect their morals and attitudes. A shabbily dressed individual may or may not be indication of being poor and homeless. It may, rather, suggest an "I don't care less" attitude of laziness and/or rebelion, just to make a statement and tick people - most like the parents - off.
A well-groomed person could be presenting their general mode of dress, or they could be going to work, a function such as a wedding, out on a date, or they are just a tidy person, so reflecting their personality and preferance of dress. This, not necessarily to conform to a status quo of society or friend group. However, most people would tend to say this person has better character than the shabbily dressed person and so judge by stereotypical appearances.
Again, we tend to think those who 'barely' (pun intended) clothe themselves as being lustfully seductive but it may also be a hot climate as deduced earlier, and not necessarily the 'less - is -best' outward picture of inward expression revealing itself (pun intended).
Continuing in this reflection of attitude theme, a person dresssed in dark clothing and in sloppy manner could be a depressed person. Bright sunny, sunflowery patterns may indicate a cheery countenance and persona.
One needs to be cautious against snap opinions and judgments however, despite indications of negative festerings in point of view. I recall one elderly lady in a church setting, contemptuously condemning a certain group of university students from another country, who arrived at church in blue jeans and nice, presentable T-shirts. Other brothers were adorned in 'respectable' three piece suits. Little did "Grandma" realize - this was the best clothing these young men had! Furthermore, it was modest apparel! They had come to worship the Lord, to remember Jesus in His death and resurection. Their focus was on Jesus, with gratitude of heart for what He had done for them. Beware of making snap judgments!
We need to be guided by God's love, kindness, mercy and grace combined with heeding the 'vibes' we think we're getting from a person's dressed appearance as reflecting certain attitudes.
There are reasons people give to justify wearing revealing clothing. For instance, "It's too hot to wear much of anyhing". I'd say that it is possible to wear cooler clothing according to weather conditions yet still maintain modesty that would please the Lord.
To say that, "No one notices me" may be true to a certain extent. Nonetheless, a believer in Jesus is a child of God and should not forget that. Besides reflecting our personal attitudes we are reflecting our loving Heavenly Father. What is your witness proclaiming? For God's son or daughter being salt and light in this world, will let their moderation be known to all (Philippians 4:5 KJV).
True enough, "It's not a sin to swim". BUT ... is one's swim gear still embodying modesty that is more pleasing to the Lord and not stirring up our own flesh or that of another's? So saying, "If someone is going to lust, they will lust no matter what I wear". That is very likely true but still does not justify exposing more of one's body than necessary for the swim activity in which one wishes to participate.
Some people may not realize that immodest clothing they wear is revealing to others. The wearer can be taught and guided to better personal grooming if they are willing to be taught the "better way" in pleasing the Lord by adorning the temple of His Holy Spirit more modestly. Let it come from the heart captured by God's love and not of one ensnared by our own evil desires.
When preparing ones body for Spring and Summer, I never realized the lengths to which some people go to enhance their appearance for typical seasonal clothing that reveals more flesh. Some of those preparations are: losing weight, toning the body; skin treatments; shaving legs; hair prep; rehydrate; eating more vegetables and taking vitamin D, among others. Some of that sounds pretty healthy.
Call me backward, but I guess we do expose more of our body in warmer weather so we would want to look our best but it doesn't warrant going overboard and dressing immodestly.
If we want to be honest with ourselves, we can take this little test. What is the difference between these two attitudes? One, "Where do I draw the line" when it comes to modesty vs immodesty? Question Two, "How does my clothing reflect my character?" Three, "Which of these attitudes is yours?"
Is the first one pushing boundaries in one's own interests? Is the second instance sincerely examining oneself to check one's point of view and priority that is pleasing to the Lord's will and desire? Is it God's interest and not my own? I'll let you cogitate and consider your own answers.
It's ironic to note that among the first things Adam and Eve did after eating the forbidden fruit and realizing they were naked, was to hide themselves and to make an attempt to cover themselves by sowing fig leaves together to use as "cover-up". There was absolutely no on else around!! Why so concerned to make themselves clothes (Genesis 2:25; 3:7)?! Hilarious! Yet, that thing called "conscience" had kicked in. There was the guilt of their disobedience and the feeling of the shame of being uncovered. That was the natural feeling that ensued.
Why would God then make them "proper clothes" with animal skins if Adam and Eve already had clothed themselves? Let's deduce that Adam and Eve were still not modestly clothed according to God's standard. Therefore, God made
"garments of skin"for them. Genesis 3:21 records,
"and clothed them."
This was God's standard.
The 'take home' from this seems that its possible to be naked in one sense and still have some form of clothing on. The poor and needy may well be clothed but scantily so, even with ragged garments. This does not insinuated that the wearers are being purposefully immodest. NO. They don't have better, like Adam and Eve and their fig leaves. They tried but needed help to do better (Job 22:6; Matthew 25:34-39 and James 2:15-16).
Nakedness in the Bible seems to symbolize shame, sinfulness, wickedness and even hypocracy. Read these verses: Genesis 9:20-25; Isaiah 47:20-25 and Revelation 3:18.
In Noah's case, he was so drunk he did not realize his nakedness. Two of his sons would not even look at him when they helped to cover him up.
In Isaiah's case, it was God exposing the nakedness of Babylon's shame, sin and wickedness. Judgment was falling upon them.
God counselled His hearers to buy white clothes to wear to cover their shameful nakedness. Confession and repentance would be the catalysts to bring and buy white clothes. Thus, the Laodicean church's nakedness covered (Revelation 3:18).
We all dress up or down according to the occasion. Think of Joseph in the Egyptian dungeon. When he was called to Pharoah's presence to interpret the dreams, he shed the prison clothes for "presentable ones". He also tidied his appearance - shaving his beard and so forth. The message is that there is more appropriate apparel depending on the situation (Genesis 41:14).
The "youth with no sense" (vs 7) met the women who purposely came out to meet him. If you look at Proverbs 7:7 & 10, you'll see what her clothing was like. She was
"dressed like a prostitute and with crafty intent".
The message was that her clothing was designed to entice and stir up lust. If you read the rest of that Proverb you'll see she achieved her goal and the young man's end was death. What do we wish to achieve by what we wear?
When the king came to greet his guests at the wedding banquet, there was a man not wearing the wedding clothes that had even been provided. There was no excuse to not having the appropriate apparel. The message here could have implied an insult to the host and/or to stir up trouble, perhaps of a political statement or so on. The passage in Matthew 22:11-12 NIV does not state the reason but the man's insolence earned him terrifying consequences.
There have been times when I have been offended by the apostle Paul's injunction to Timothy about him needing to teach the women to dress...
"...modestly with decency and propriety".
It seemed chauvanistic. Why doesn't he remark about the men too?! The men should keep their eyes to themselves and not put the onus on the women.
I'll try to cool it for now and accept with some grace that the women's 'better apparel' is...
"...good deeds appropriate for women who profess to worship God..."
...and not fixate on accusations against the type of outward ornamentation of dress. The message is to show godliness and good deeds and submission to God - dressed to please the Lord. This I can handle (1 Timothy 2:9-10).
We've already briefly touched on discrimination of seeing someone at church with three-piece suits vs blue jeans & T-shirts. James 2:1-4 also warns about prejudice and preferred treatment depending on the type of clothing worn. I think we should also regard those immodestly dressed this way too until we can ascertain their situation and motivation. We should never forget that the person may have come to "see Jesus" in the so-called Christians. It could be a turning point for the person - either way.
We've been talking about modesty vs immodesty but how does one define 'modesty'? According to Dictionary - Oxford Languages, it is...
"the quality or state of being unassuming...being relatively moderate..."I'd like to add - not drawing undue attention to ones self by the amount of dress or undress when we present ourselves to the public eye, even if in the privacy of one's own home when company comes calling.
The word 'lasciviousness' pops up in Galations 5:19-21 and other Scriptural references. The meaning is that a person is...
"filled with or showing sexual desire" (Merriam-Webster).Consequences will be that such a person...
"will not inherit the kingdom of God".
May none of us lose the ability to blush or feel ashamed of our unwholesome actions. We, followers of Jesus Christ, do not want to be "brought down" nor "fall among the fallen" (Jeriamiah 6:5; 8:12). Let us each maintain decorum and moderation in our dress and actions.
We cannot say, "OH, never mind, it would only be myself who could get hurt!" Oh, NO! There is that stickler verse about causing others, especially "little ones" to stumble. If what we allow in our lives causes another brother or sister-in-Christ to fail, I do hope we would be ashamed of ourselves and repent of such actions.
Yes, I do agree each person should be responsible for their own actions but beware if we are the one to push another over the edge! All parties need to intentionally monitor their own desires, emotions and actions. It is a two-way street.
I forever love Job's vow. He made a covenant with his eyes not to look lustfully at a young woman (Job 31:1). On the flip side, we each could make a similar vow never to cause someone to fall into lustful behavior due to how we dress. It works both ways.
We could debate, until we're blue in the face, about whether Bathsheba was completely innocent in David's seduction of her (2 Samuel 11:1-5). We do not know the complete details. It was the time of year for the warriors to be off at war. Was not David - king or not - a warrior? Should he not have been off joining his men? - debatable, I know.
It was night time - time to sleep. Bathsheba may have thought all good men were off fighting and since it's night she'd be 'safe' from peeping Toms or Davids' prying eyes. When the king summoned her, could she not have refused? She was a married woman. On the other hand, did she fear for her life and the life of her husband if she did refuse? There was a law that she could scream if she was being raped - did she employ that? Was she, again, too fearful to do so seeing as this was the king? There are so many "what-if''s" in this story to be conclusive.
Women, just beware when you think you are 'safe', err on the side of modesty. Men, be fighting the enemy and keep your eyes from roaming in places they should not. Note, 'woman' is not the enemy.
To some extent there is a difference between a man and a woman dressing modestly. A woman may need to protect herself more. However, in this day and age of open homosexuality, a man cannot be too modest either if he does not want to invite undue attention.
I like this quotation that Rob Harbison used in this Bible study lesson. He said that someone said,
"A swimsuit is like a barbed wire fence. It doesn't hide anything, it just covers the territory."
Do you agree?
I have to. We can go back to our grandparents or great-grandparents' day. They appeared almost fully clothed even in their swimwear. I kid you not. My grandfather showed me pictures of it back in his day. I suppose to them it was 'racy'. It made me, laugh. This is the point of society's standards all being relative to the current standard of the times.
We, however, do not have to "keep with the times"!
Rather, we can cover up more 'territory' to keep the lustful wolves at bay. So saying, I don't say, "Don't go swimming because swimsuits these days are so revealing." No. There are some very stylish and fashionable swim wear Tankini and Burkini's available if one truly does not wish to make a public display of immodesty when they swim or do other outdoor activities. Again, it the spirit and state of the heart in God's eyes, nor ours, in how we deport ourselves with God-honoring dignity.
There's another saying that we keep our house or car doors locked in order to "keep honest people honest". When we dress more modestly we keep less lustful people, less lustful.
In the area I currently live, younger and older people go more or less fully clothed, into the sea and still frolic happily.
One must keep 'modesty' as the key word.
Even if we think we have ugly legs and figures no one will ever look at, lust is not the only consideration or criteria to judging what we wear for any occasion. We need to keep in mind that followers of Jesus Christ will dress to please and honor the King - that they will have their "wedding clothes" on; appropriate attire for a son or daughter of the King.
Think of God's reputation and the name of Jesus.
We know all this but there are times when we still may want to dress 'immodestly'. We each have willful human nature and such attitudes show we are not walking in step with the Spirit but according to our own flesh. I do get it (Romans 13:14; Galatians 5:24 NIV).
It's tough to..
"...crucify the sinful nature with its passions and desires".
Even so, when we walk in step with the Spirit and are attuned to Him and His convictions and direction in our lives, we will be able to relinquish, in ever increasing measure, our hold on our own interests and passions. We will dress more modestly and present ourselves to our Lord and Savior King Jesus in a pleasing manner that will also be appropriate among the general public, even if they do call you a prude.
However, it's God's, not the general public's, opinion we need to seek. Let us each bow before Him in humility and seek His will about what we wear. Let our modesty be witness for His glory and honor.
Whether or not they admit it, today's society needs us to be that bulwark.
~ ERC June 2022 ~
Based on Moral Issues Facing ghe Church Study Guide, Lesson 7, by Rob Harbison.
Sing, Onward Christian Soldiers, along with Sanctuary Choir.
Bible references referred to: Romans 12:2; Matthew 7:13-14; Genesis 2:25; 3:7; Genesis 3:8, 10-11; Genesis 3:21; Job 22:6; Matthew 25:34-39; James 2:15-16; Genesis 9:20-25; Isaiah 47:2-3; Revelation 3:18; Genesis 41:14; Proverbs 7:10; Matthew 22:11-12; 1 Timothy 2:9-10; James 2:14; Galatians 5:19-21; Jeremiah 6:15; 8:12; Matthew 5:28; 18:6-7; 2 Samuel 11:1-5; Romans 13:14 - These have all been referred to by Rob Harbison in his study guide.).
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