This is not popular, I understand. But it is good, thought-provoking material that most are unwilling to say. Read it this morning and thought I’d share.

Honesty and Modesty

Written by Dr. Bruce Goddard

Good Morning,

Recently, I walked into a place of business (a small, privately owned business).  A man stood in front of me in line, and at one point, both of the ladies who worked there were away from the counter.  He looked at me and said, “Do you think the owner makes them dress like that?”  It was interesting to me that I was in a secular situation, with a normal construction worker, and a stranger was candid enough to comment on the gal’s dress.  Each gal was wearing shorts and a low-cut t-shirt that fit a little tighter than it probably should have.

I mentioned that I knew the owner’s wife and that she did not dress that way (I was trying to cover for the owner). This construction worker looked at me and said, “If I was the owner, I could not work around gals dressed like that all day long without a problem; it just would not work.”

There you have it!  The candid, man-to-man, out-of-the-pulpit, non-church, revelation of the male heart.   The dress of those gal’s screamed “sex.”

It is interesting how much people desperately try to justify revealing clothing, indiscreet clothing, clothing that is tight, low-cut, see-through, and generally immodest; yet, the entire world uses indiscreetly-dressed females to draw the eyes and attention of men.  No one doubts the power of a sensuous pose, alluring clothing, or sexual innuendos that accompany certain clothes (especially in the summertime).  For those who might say clothing does not matter, why then (might I ask) is there a “Victoria’s Secret” shop and why do we give personal bridal showers?

Yet, if you ask the average preacher what Paul meant in I Timothy 2:9 (when he said a woman should adorn herself in modest apparel), he will dance around the words modest and apparel in any way possible. He will avoid confronting the comment on sexual temptations or indiscretions leading the eyes and minds of men to dwell upon that which they should not.  Pastors today will say it has to do with modesty in price, so I guess they preach against $100 jeans with holes in them???  (Probably not.)  Anyone with an honest heart who reads this article knows the verse is not about money.  (As I said, I do not hear pastors preaching about expensive clothing any more than immodest clothing.)

1 Timothy 2:9 “In like manner also, that women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with shamefacedness and sobriety; not with broided hair, or gold, or pearls, or costly array;”
vs. 10 “But (which becometh women professing godliness) with good works.”

Here are a few simple principles to learn from this verse:
1.  Some clothing is modest, some is not.
2.  God suggests women dress with a little “shame” or embarrassment, not
proudly flaunt every bit of flesh possible.
3.  Some clothing “becomes women who are godly,” and other clothing is
unbecoming to a godly woman.

More can be learned from this passage, but these three principles alone ought to provoke the thinking of every Christian lady.

We live in a culture in which people throw fits about a man touching a woman inappropriately; of course, we all know that is wrong.  But as the construction worker said to me at the counter, it would be impossible for him to work all day around ladies dressed like that and not have some kind of a problem.  That which is advertised is desired; that which is beautiful and revealed draws a touch — whether it be the Jaguar on the showroom floor or the beautiful dress hanging on the rack in the store.  When we see attractive things, we want to touch them.  Any married person knows that there is no draw on the heart and body of a man like the sexual draw of a woman’s body.

With this obvious information, Solomon wrote in Proverbs chapter 7 about the woman with the attire of a harlot:
Proverbs 7:10 “And, behold, there met him a woman with the attire of an harlot, and subtil of heart.”

Something about the attire of the woman in this passage made it obvious that she was available.  Candidly speaking, in the small, private business in our small, conservative town, the summer dress of girls certainly looks like they are available, and it would be difficult to find anything more worthy of the description, “The attire of a harlot.”  I would never slander the women in question.  I have no reason to question their morality, but I will, without hesitation, say that their apparel screamed “available!”

To say God does not care about our appearance is an act of intentional ignorance, therefore I make a few suggestions to all of us:

We need to consider what is seen on the television in our homes.
We need to consider where we go with our families, and what is placed in front of our men and boys.  (Could a beach or pool full of bikini-clad women be any more violating of the above principles?)
We need to consider the wardrobe of the gals in our home, whether it be the toddlers or adults — set patterns of acceptable dress and do not change.  Begin to set some kind of standard of that which is acceptable and unacceptable by which to live.

We will close with reviewing the above principles and add a fourth:
1.  Some clothing is modest, some is not.
2.  God suggests women dress with a little “shame” or embarrassment, not
proudly flaunt every bit of flesh possible.
3.  Some clothing “becomes women who are godly,” and other clothing is
unbecoming to a godly woman.
Add the fourth principle from Proverbs 7:
4. Do not wear anything that says “available” unless it is to bed with your
husband.

Pastor Goddard