So girls, lets get real. These days less is more. Especially with the weather heating up for summer girls everywhere are breaking out the bra straps and booty shorts. Since when was it a fashion trend to show your bra??? Well obviously it has been for a while now. With all the sexy lingerie Victoria Secret puts out it seems a waste for you to be the only one to see it so it only makes sense to find shirts that will show them right?????! Everywhere you turn whether you are at the mall, a ballgame or even CHURCH it's ok to wear a shirt that is obviously worn to show your bra straps. Here's the thing though. Is it ultimately wrong if we show our bra straps or wear the short shorts or the short dresses? They are just pieces of clothing right?!?!
What's your motivation? What's the motivation behind showing the bra strap or too much leg or too much boob?!?! Let's be honest. The motivation behind it is to draw attention to ourselves. The problem is the attention we call to ourselves when we wear the really tight low cut shirt or dress, or the really short shorts or the shorts with the writing across the rear end is the wrong kind of attention. We are calling focus to ourselves instead of calling focus to God. Have you ever thought about the fact that when you dress in an immodest way you are causing others to sin? And not only that, but you are causing yourself to sin as well.
Now of course it would be really easy to say "It's not my fault what they think about when they see me, I could have on overalls and a long sleeve t-shirt and they would still think those things about me." And you could be right. We've all heard women see with their heart and men see with their eyes. It's true. Men and boys can look at a woman or girl in stockings, a long dress and a bonnet and think dirty thoughts, but when you are dressing modestly and boys think those dirty thoughts that is on them not YOU! Now before you start freaking out because I said "Stockings, long dress and bonnet" in the same sentence with "modesty" don't think I expect that's what you should wear! :) Christian girls and women can dress modestly and stylish without giving in to the worlds opinion of "cute and trendy". Whatever happened to the old rule "hands to your sides"? When I was in school this was the way you measured if a girls shorts were too short. If her fingertips reached further than the material on the shorts they were too short. I don't believe that's long enough to be honest. I remember a few short girls I went to HS with that could get away with that rule really quickly! :) What's wrong with right above the knee? They aren't uncomfortable! Those shorts aren't made of a different fabric than the booty shorts. What is your motive behind showing more skin?..............
As Christians God has called us to be respectful not only of our brother's and sister's in Christ, but to ourselves as well. God wants us to present ourselves in a way that we show other's that He lives in us. He also calls us to be aware of our actions not causing others to sin. Can we help it if we have on jeans and a t-shirt and a guy looks our way and thinks dirty thoughts? No, but as long as when you got dressed that morning and didn't think "Will this attract attention from the guys I am around today" and instead you made an effort to dress as modestly as possible their thoughts are on them. They will answer for the things they are thinking.
I Corinthians 6:13 says "The body is not meant for sexual immorality, but for the Lord and the Lord for the body." On to verse 18 "Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a man commits are outside his body, but he who sins sexually sins against his own body. Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? YOU ARE NOT YOUR OWN; you were bought with a price therefore honor God with your body."
Now this verse can cover a whole lot of territory and don't worry in another blog we will talk about the act of sexual immorality, but this blog can help prevent some of that! When we as women (whether we are married or not) dress in a way that causes men to think ungodly thoughts about us we are causing them to sin. It's on us. There's no 2 ways around it girls. I know fashion trends are cute and fun, but most of the fashion trends these days are designed with one thing in mind. How sexy can I look? And when that is the thought that crosses your mind when you put on that dress or shorts or shirt or bathing suit then there is something wrong.
There is no reason ANY Christian should wear a bikini.
I actually did that on purpose! You can definitely call me a hypocrite or whatever you would like. That's ok. I can take it! Let me explain why I put this picture on here. Because my motivation behind wearing this swimsuit was NOT to glorify God. Did you catch that? Didn't even come close. My motivation behind wearing this 2 piece swimsuit in the summer of 2010 was because I had lost 75 lbs the prior 8 months. I worked my tail off. I ate right, I was at the gym everyday and I was proud of myself for losing the weight. So to celebrate I wanted to make myself feel better and have people look at me. Did you catch that? I wanted people to look at me. That was my motivation. Could I have worn a tankini or a 1 piece that covered more of my body and still been proud of what I had accomplished? OF COURSE! And I would have done it in a way that I was glorifying God. See girls it shouldn't be other people's approval that we need. It's taken me a good 32 years to learn that. I'll be honest it wasn't until 6 months ago after doing some major biblical study and talking to a Christian counselor about my issues with pleasing others I finally learned it doesn't matter what ANYONE else thinks. Only what God thinks. His opinion is the only one that matters. Not your momma's, not your sister's and not your best friend. Do we like to have the approval of all of those people and more? Sure. It's nice to know that other's approve of us and think we are smart and beautiful. They aren't the one's that matter. In the end it's only His opinion that truly matters. And I would have dodged a lot of stress, a lot of heart ache and a whole lot of nights/days in tears had I learned that sooner. Our purpose in life is to glorify Him. Our purpose in life is to make Him happy. And when we dress to please other's we are going against Him.
As Christian women/girls whether we are entering the point of dating, whether we have been dating for years and years or whether we are married the rule still applies to all of us. When we dress to call attention to ourselves we are going against God. God wants us to feel good about ourselves, He wants us to be happy with how we look, and He wants us to dress so that others may see HIM in us. When we take all of those things into consideration we will look GORGEOUS no matter what we are wearing because our heavenly Father will tell us so. As His daughters we deserve to know that the One on High is smiling down at what we are wearing and that He calls us beautiful. So next time you go to get dressed whether you are 12, 22, 32, 42 or older make sure you are wearing clothes that your heavenly Father will approve of not what will call the most attention to you.
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