Every spring as the temperature rises and girls’ clothes get skimpier and skimpier, my mind returns to the subject of modesty.
I don’t have anything groundbreaking to say about it just yet. I’m still mulling it over in my mind. I will hopefully get my thoughts together for a post about it relatively soon. I mean, I know what MY convictions are, but WHY do I have those convictions? What is our motivation for modesty? What are our guidelines to help us determine what is modest and what is not?
Right now I’m meditating specifically on these two popular modesty verses:
Likewise, wives, be subject to your own husbands, so that even if some do not obey the word, they may be won without a word by the conduct of their wives, when they see your respectful and pure conduct. Do not let your adorning be external—the braiding of hair and the putting on of gold jewelry, or the clothing you wear— but let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God’s sight is very precious. For this is how the holy women who hoped in God used to adorn themselves, by submitting to their own husbands, as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord. And you are her children, if you do good and do not fear anything that is frightening. -1 Peter 3:1-6
and
I desire then that in every place the men should pray, lifting holy hands without anger or quarreling; likewise also that women should adorn themselves in respectable apparel, with modesty and self-control, not with braided hair and gold or pearls or costly attire, but with what is proper for women who profess godliness—with good works. – 1 Timothy 2:8-10
… and I’m thinking about the correlation between what we wear and our hope being in God.
A quick Google search of “biblical modesty” turns up a whole gamut of different opinions, many making definitive statements that this or that apparel is immodest… but I think they are missing the point. There is a heart issue to modesty that goes deeper than just a list of what not to wear, and that is what I am digging for.
What are your thoughts/convictions on modesty?
