Less Skin, More Dignity

It's spring. And with the green leaves, and beautiful flowers comes something I dread so very much:

A lack of clothing on girls and women. 

Every year I know it is coming. All winter long those large coats, thick pants, and scarves have covered all the ladies I see, but that is almost over for most. And with that thought, I cringe. I actually cringe more now than ever. Now it just doesn't make me sick, it also makes me angry. It should have made me this upset before, but something about the fact that I am married makes it even worse. I have a husband. And when I see a lady dressed immodestly, I want to avert my husband's eyes immediately, because I feel like she is being unthoughtful and quite bluntly... rude.

Where does it all begin? On the large signs in stores, on the racks of girl's swimsuits, but mostly in homes where it is accepted.

The culture is so saturated with immodesty that most of us hardly even notice it. It is everywhere. So, let's imagine that we are standing in a little shop in 1913 (100 years ago). The women surrounding you are dressed in long dresses and lovely hats. There is a row of magazines in the distance. The National Geographic, The Saturday Evening Post and, wait.... There is a horrible picture in front of you that catches your eye. A woman is dressed in nothing but a few patches of cloth and strings. Sports Illustrated. A modern magazine is placed in a early 1900's world. A model in a string bikini. And you... well, you would have been mortified and probably very angered by such a risque magazine.

Yet in 2013 we just ignore it. Why?

Why do we tell girls that dressing the way many do is okay? That it is good? Many of us are in relatively safe communities and towns. So 6 year olds wearing mini skirts doesn't seem like a big deal. But there are countries and cities all over the world where little girls who wear things like that are automatically abducted and thrown into sex-trafficking. They would do ANYTHING to get to wear lots of clothes and be safe in a good home. It's a horrible truth.

By letting daughters dress immodesty and dressing immodesty ourselves, we are smacking beautiful femininity in the face. We are saying that nothing is sacred. We bare all and show all and say, "Oh well, that's just our day and age."

It literally makes me want to cry. It is breaking our girls. If the girls and women in our churches wear immodest clothing then the world will only be worse.

Would you feel comfortable if you saw a 16 year old girl walk into church one Sunday wearing only a bikini? Probably not! But why do we think it is okay to wear it around the same people at the pool? Plunging necklines on prom dresses. Is it okay? No. Please hold the rotten tomatoes!

I was told once that I was judging the girls and women who dress that way. It isn't judging if you tell them in love that that the clothing or lack of there of, is disobedient to God. Sure I do many things wrong, but to not address a problem because "no one is perfect" is not the answer.

Many dress the way they do because they don't even know that it is wrong. Most women don't realize that the way they dress, that the things they wear majorly affect the men they are around. Men can avoid temptation, yes, but to torture them with the opportunities to think bad thoughts over and over is just uncaring. It affects them very differently than it does us females. It's a much more fierce battle of the mind.

See, if we are followers of Jesus, then our bodies do not belong to ourselves. So we should dress in a way that pleases Him. Don't be ashamed to dress modestly, because it is a beautiful dignity.

1 Corinthians 6:19-20 


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