Day 46: The Importance of Being Modest

Scripture to Memorize:
She makes coverings for her bed;
she is clothed in fine linen and purple.
Her husband is respected at the city gate,
where he takes his seat among the elders of the land.
Proverbs 31:22-23
Passage to Read:
I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone--for kinds and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. . . .
I also want women to dress modestly, with decency and propriety, not with braided hair or gold or pearls or expensive clothes, but with good deeds, appropriate for women who profess to worship God.
1 Timothy 2:1-4, 9-10
Prayer:
Dear Lord,
I pray for the leaders of this country. I thank you for our country and ask that you guide our leaders and give them great wisdom to lead our country according to your will. Guide the leaders who make our laws so that they would be righteous in your sight. I want to live in a peaceful country so that I may live a peaceful and quiet live in all godlines and holiness. Show me the way in which you want me to help with seeing people are saved and come to the knowledge of the truth.
Holy Spirit help me discern when I am to act according to the culture and when I am to stand against the culture. I know that when it comes to the way I dress then I am not suppose to follow the current culture. Prepare my heart to reevaluate my wardrobe to see if there is anything offensive or anything thatmight be a stumbling block to the men around me. I want to dress in fine linen and purple but only if it also clothes me with strength and dignity. Open my eyes to see anything in my wardrobe that would make me appear morally weak and undignified. Give me the courage to refashion my wardrobe in a way that honors you, that is pleasing to you. Amen.
Personal:
Donna's message today has two points the first deals with the fact that the Proverbs 31 woman and her husband were acknowledge at the city gates, which in that day represented the equalivalent of our Congress, Wall Street, and the society page all rolled into one. Therefore Donna believes (and I do too) that there is nothing wrong with Christian men and women taking and active role in achieving fame, acclaim, or influence in politics, business, or society. Also today's passage urges us to pray for those in authority and to do everything we can to live peacefully within the context of our culture. However, we should not totally conform to the culture. Remember we are asked to live peacefully within the context of our culture to bring salvation to our countrymen. We can not do this if we totally conform to our culture. She then gives us the readers and little history about why Paul wrote this letter to Timothy. He was pastoring the church at Ephesus. Ephesus was a sexually decadent city that had hundreds, maybe thousands of women who worked as temple prostitutes at the Temple of Atemis a fertility goddess. She then points to the relevance of Paul's message to women today. According to Donna he is basically saying that Christian women should not look like those that appear on the cover of any of the popular women's magazines such as "Cosmopolitan". That may be how women of the culture dress but it is not how a woman who is working on blessing God should dress.
Donna then gives some examples of immodestly dressed women at church functions she has attended. She states that in these women's cases more is better, not less. She further says that this is particularly true of women over forty. In her words a woman over forty needs to "wear more fabric--more fabric to cover your upper arms, more fabric to covery your knees, and--please ladies, please--more fabric to cover your cleavage". Her comment about if it is offensive to see young Christian women bearing cleavage it is even worse to see "mature Christian women revealing wrinkled, brown-spotted cleavage". She then goes on to address the bottom; how mature Christian women should wear dresses and skirts that come to below the knee and only wear well made trousers that flatter their figure and not reveal every lump and bump. She then also clarifies that she is talking to American women and that cultural difference would dictate a different style of dress. However, she also says that regardless of the culture women know what kind of dress is seductive in her culture. She gave a reminder that we may not be responsible for how men think but we are responsible for dressing modestly.
"The Proverbs 31 woman is clothed with dignity. Sisters, it's past time for the women of God to dress with dignity, setting the example for our depraved culture". Donna then instructs us to give our closets one more good look to see if there is anything that is seductive, does not fit well, or that is not flattering for our figure or age. She also recommended a book entitled "What Not to Wear" by Trinny Woodall and Susannah Constantine.
By now, Donna states, "your closet should be a lean, mean fashion machine. Enjoy the peace and confidence it brings! You are clothed in fine linen and purple!"
Affirmation: I am clothed in fine linen and purple!
Practical:
Again this is another instance of having already done this. Part of it comes from watching such television programs as TLC's "What Not To Wear", but another is that I have always cared about how I looked in my clothes and try to wear flattering clothes regardless of my size. There might be some slacks that Donna would not agree with because they are made of stretchy fabric and do hug my legs and bottom however I do try to wear them with longer blouses