MODESTY

WHY does God want US (not just women) to dress modestly?

 

Look at what happens when we don't.

 

I myself struggled with pornography and lust for almost my whole life. As a pig, with other pigs for friends (basically a typical teenage boy all the way up until he's dead), if a girl shows flesh, that would make us think of sex. Sex WITH THAT PERSON. And imaginations can be quite vivid. Dirty. Horrifying.

So... a person needs to ask themselves, with this knowledge in mind, do I WANT other people to think about having sex with me?

How about my brother or sister in Christ who is struggling with lust and pornography and in prayer and fighting that God would deliver him or her? Do I WANT to make it MORE difficult for him to be pure and not sin against the Lord?
How about my neighbors? Do I want my neighbors thinking of me that way? Does that please the Lord? Does my Father smile when I do that? Will that help me stay pure for my Father, my Bridegroom, and my spouse or future spouse? And TRUST ME... your future husband/wife REALLY wants us to be pure (even if they don't understand that). Having the neighbor hot and bothered about us can and often does lead to infidelity.
Most people get a buzz. There's a self-esteem boost. Yeah. You want this. OR Yeah. I still got it. I'm still good-looking.

And maybe a sense of control. You can't have it. Keep dreaming.

So we have to ask ourselves, are we willing to have those things even if it causes others to stumble? Even if it dishonors the Lord and is displeasing to Him?

Still.. I've heard the argument, I just find them comfortable and I like to wear this or that. So, even then, it's 1)about us and what we want and/or 2)we are willing to trade our modesty and risk making others stumble so we can wear what we want to wear (which would also be self-seeking).

Is it fair that we can't just wear whatever we want? No! It's not fair. But the deal (the covenant we made with God) was never about fairness. It wasn't fair that Jesus had to leave His glory in Heaven, come down here, live a perfect life, just to be slaughtered... for us... even while we sinned against Him and crucified Him. Not fair. We made a deal to be a slave of God in the flesh, and we received His perfect record on our behalf and His payment for our sins so that we can be spotless and blameless when our life is finished. So maybe we can't wear short-shorts and tank-tops or go shirtless (normal in our society for males). We can wear that stuff at home. There's that. If you're married, I'm sure the spouse loves seeing us walk around that way. But we can wear some pants outside the home, or a t-shirt... because our life is about Jesus and only Jesus, not what we can and can't wear.