Next week marks the start of our season known as Daylight Savings. We will advance our clocks by an hour and so change our days so that we can make the most of the hours of sunshine. Anglers know that the best fishing conditions are on the horizon, water temps are coming up, we see trees beginning to bring forth their first buds and the first green shoots of leaves are on the branches. Springtime is near. Certainly, it is an exciting time and season in our calendars.
With the coming of the warmer months, we will pack away our coats and jackets and trade our long sleeves and pants for short sleaves and short pants. With this change in our dress, it is a good time for us to discuss our attire and how we are presenting ourselves as Christians to the world. What is appropriate for us in how we act, as well as how we adorn ourselves?
We often tie such discussions to a single word: Modesty.
Merriam-Webster says of this word that it has been around since the mid 1500’s. It has always been used in connection with how one dresses. Webster says it means, “propriety in dress, speech, or conduct.” You know the thing that is modest does change depending upon occasion doesn’t it.
If you were going to a formal event which the invitation described as “black-tie”, would it be modest to wear your Def Leopard t-shirt and a pair of shorts? Of course, we know that the answer is no. Likewise, we would look a bit out of place in a full tuxedo or three-piece suit on the fishing boat in the middle of the lake. One might say that you were overdressed for the occasion.
It would by the very definition of the word describe both of the absurd illustrations above as immodest. These illustrate improper dress for the occasion, but how about our attire and our actions generally?
The idea of modesty is to draw ourselves unnaturally to being the center of attention. Modern clothing designers have made it their habit to create clothes that attempt to make the flesh and the body of the wearer to be the absolute center of attention. Clothes that accentuate physical traits and draw the eye to regions of the body which entice lust and longing. Such designs are not becoming of Christians.
Peter gives instruction concerning how we should dress as does Paul in their letters.
[1Pe 3:3-4 NKJV] 3 Do not let your adornment be [merely] outward–arranging the hair, wearing gold, or putting on [fine] apparel– 4 rather [let it be] the hidden person of the heart, with the incorruptible [beauty] of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is very precious in the sight of God.
[1Ti 2:9-10 NKJV] 9 in like manner also, that the women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with propriety and moderation, not with braided hair or gold or pearls or costly clothing, 10 but, which is proper for women professing godliness, with good works.
So how we dress then is important. Our dress, should be proper, moderate, unassuming. We should not draw attention to ourselves by our attire, our hair, makeup, and the like. How we dress should declare who we are in Christ. It should demonstrate our allegiance to Him. Such is true equally for men and for women. The thing that people should take away from an interaction with us is not our outward appearance, but the fact that we are inwardly beautiful and reflecting Christ in our lives.
Go back and read in Genesis 3. When man first sinned and came to know that he was without clothes, what was his inclination?
[Gen 3:7 NKJV] 7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they [were] naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings.
Man tried to cover themselves and they hid themselves from God. Such coverings were inadequate though. So God made them something more adequate.
[Gen 3: 21 NKJV] 21 Also for Adam and his wife the LORD God made tunics of skin, and clothed them.
God made them tunics to cover the torso and upper body. Most scholars agree that this would be a covering to the knee. So we should dress to be covered and not unclothed.
Beyond our dress, the idea of modesty also applies to how we conduct ourselves. Go back up and read the definition. It also applies to our speech and our conduct. The Bible also addresses this part of the idea of modesty. Paul describes the kind of speech we are to possess in his letters.
[Col 4:6 NKJV] 6 [Let] your speech always [be] with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer each one.
[Eph 4:29 NKJV] 29 Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers.
Our speech can be just as immodest as dress at the beach or pool. If we are being modest, we are dressing in proper ways, we are not trying to draw attention to ourselves by what we wear, and we are conducting ourselves in a quiet manner. In a word, we are chaste in dress, in conduct, and in speech. This doesn’t mean that we cannot have fun, but it does mean that we have to consider carefully our dress, our activities, and how we act and talk. Let us be modest in all our ways and so be representative of who God wants us to be.