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MODESTY As one walks among people they will see a variety of clothing fashion. Mostly they will see a lot of skin. Frankly most of the styles today are not very flattering for the wearer. As in previous generations, Christians must decide what clothing styles are appropriate to wear. In order to make the proper choice we must understand what the Bible means about modesty and how it relates to one’s clothing. Modest comes from the word, kosmios, meaning well arranged, decent, seemly. It is related to the word, kosmos referring to the world. It is used in 1 Timothy 2, 9 "in like manner also, that the women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with propriety and moderation." The King James uses the word, shamefacedness in this passage instead of propriety. This means, a sense of shame, modest, reverence, the ability to blush. Sobriety is soundness of mind, self control. , Modesty deals with the inner quality of the person and not just what they wear. An immodest person will wear immodest clothing and not feel a sense of shame. They have no humility, but want to show off their body. They like the attention of seeing heads turn and knowing they are the subject of stares. On the other hand, a modest person will understand the difference between fashionable and lascivious. Often the question is asked, "how short is too short?" Or, "how tight is too tight?" A person that has a sense of modesty will know that answer, a person without a sense of shame will not. A modest attitude is learned and taught. A child born into this world is like Adam and Eve, naked and not ashamed. In the first years of their life they learn to wear the clothes their parents have for them. They get comfortable with those clothes. Parents that dress their young children immodestly are teaching their children to be immodest. Don’t dress your four of five year old daughter in next to nothing and think they will be modest. At some point in their lives children develop a sense of their own bodies. Most have a sense of modesty in that they want to bathe themselves, dress themselves, and do not want others to see their bodies. It comes from how they are reared by their parents. They make a conscious decision as to how much of their body they want to exhibit. They will come to the point that nothing is shameful and nothing is too short or too tight if they are dressed that way. Modesty confines rather than liberates. What I mean is some societies have stricter standards of modesty than others. In Arab countries, women wearing dresses above the ankle is considered immodest. In other places, women wearing nothing on the beach is considered modest. The definition of modesty means that nakedness is wrong no matter what the society says. A woman going topless on a French beach is immodest, not because the society says so, but because the Bible says so. She is being lascivious and immodest. However, a woman in an Arabian country wearing a dress half way up her leg is still immodest, due to their standard. Therefore, modesty restricts instead of liberates.Finally, modesty is shown in more than what a person wears. It also determines how one acts around others, the touching and handling they allow, and the conversations they encourage. A person can dress modestly and behave in an immodest manner. Unfortunately, some think of modesty only in confines of clothing, but not character and attitude. Jesus relates the outward behavior on the heart of the person. "For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, and blasphemies." (Matthew 15.19) We need to work harder at developing our heart and the hearts of our children so they will behave properly with shamefacedness, sobriety, and the ability to blush. D. T. |