Modesty - Revisted

1 Timothy 2:9
I also want the women to dress modestly, with decency and propriety, adorning themselves, not with elaborate hairstyles or gold or pearls or expensive clothes

I know we have to pick our battles as parents of teenagers, but it seems the issue of immodesty is one few are even considering, much less fighting. I was reminded often this summer whenever surrounded by young teens in skimpy bikinis.

I get it, moms. I am the slack parent who, as soon as her kids were old enough to dress themselves, never realized what her kids were wearing until I dropped them off somewhere. Horrified by the clashing colors, summer clothes worn in the winter and vice-versa, and dress shoes paired with casual play clothes, I received grace from the children's workers who smiled and applauded me for giving my kids freedom to express themselves creatively. The truth was that I was embarrassed and would have made them change had I taken the time to notice before we rushed out the door.

I'm thankful our kids' school requires uniforms that are simple and modest. There have been times, however, when we would be nearing the school and someone realized that she left her shoes at home, so I'm still not awake enough in the frenzied mornings to even notice if they even have shoes on their feet. Parenting is tiring, so who has time to argue over how short their dresses are or how much skin their swimsuits show?

Thankfully, modesty isn't too much of a battle at our house because my daughter understands that her body is God's temple, infinitely valuable and worthy of safe keeping, not free public exhibition. We don't always agree, and I don't buy all her clothes, so she doesn't always dress as modestly as I would like, but when it comes to the following questions, we agree on the answers.

• How many loving parents have ever wished they had allowed or encouraged their teenagers to show more skin?

• Who has ever looked back on her life and regretted not showing more leg, cleavage, or belly, etc?

• What decent husband has ever told his wife, "I sure wish you had shown all the other guys at the beach or in the public square more of your body so they could enjoy it as much I do?"

• "How many people have wished they had been wearing less when they bumped into their pastors, teachers, coaches, elders, etc. at the pool or marketplace?"

• What self-respecting girl has ever wished that the boys noticed her body more than her face, mind, or heart? Sorry teens, but at your age especially, an exposed body is a huge distraction! (Right now, it may seem a burden, but when the body and those kinds of desires are kept within God's protective boundaries of the marriage covenant, you will know without a doubt the benefits of that gift are worth the cost to protect it.)

• Now consider how many people have regretted being too immodest. How many wish they had been wearing something else (or something at all) when a picture was taken and shared with other students or the entire internet? How many people wish others had respected them for who they are inside instead of what they look like on the outside? How many people wish they were treated as human beings with eternal souls instead of as mere objects, eye candy, or play toys

Addendum:  It's not my place to judge or set a standard for someone else. If it was, I would focus first on freeing all the women wearing long black burkas on hot summer days, not on slowing down runners or making people uncomfortably hot with cumbersome clothing. I'm only suggesting that modesty is a topic that should be carefully considered, discussed with our teenagers, and decided for ourselves instead of merely letting the culture "normalize" that standard for us.

Throw off the old man....every single carnal bit of him

How many well-meaning, professing Christians preach "GRACE" while deliberately ignoring or without understanding Romans 6?

How many churches deliberately skip over that chapter in their teaching, pushing their flocks off the straight & narrow path that stands high above the destructive ditches of legalism on one side and license on the other?

Christ did not die on the cross so that we could live like pagans, committing every sin imaginable, worshiping the lusts of the flesh and the idols of this world instead of the one true God, all with the expectation that we can carry Jesus' blood in our pockets as our "get-out-of-hell free" card. He didn't die so that by sinning more, we could make His grace increase. That is backwards, heretical thinking that makes no sense. 

 His grace is infinite on it's own, and it's purpose is to draw us closer to God, not to push us into increasingly destructive behaviors. He died to make us holy. He died to FREE us from sin's grip, to lead us to REPENTANCE, to fill us with His Spirit, and to change our heart's desires, so we could live for Him, not for ourselves. He died to open a way for us to have fellowship with the all Holy God. To treat His sacrifice as a gift that merely removes the eternal consequences our sin deserves is as foolish as thinking abortion will remove the consequences of our own disobedience. 

As I was stewing over the liberal church's twisting of this Biblical truth, I came across this excellent post, "Loving Jesus but Living in Sin" by Melissa over at Loving Jesus Blog. She balances grace and truth so much better than I do. I highly recommend it.  

Here are a few teaser quotes from her post:

• "My sweet Jesus was not nailed to a cross for me to periodically acknowledge that there is always someone there who loves me, while still living in my sin."

• "My sweet Jesus was not nailed to a cross, killed and crucified, for me to, in vain, praise and utter His name as Lord and Savior while denying Him and continually nailing Him back to the cross with my sin."

• "My sweet Jesus was crucified to set me FREE from my sin."

• "God’s heart for your repentance from sin isn’t a heart of a dictator, of an authority who makes demands of you to conform to his way.  No, no, my sister, God’s heart behind his desire for you to repent is because your sin is going to kill you. He loves you."

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Romans 6What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? ² By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? ³ Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? ⁴ We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.
⁵ For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his. ⁶ For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with,^[a] that we should no longer be slaves to sin— ⁷ because anyone who has died has been set free from sin.
⁸ Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. ⁹ For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. ¹⁰ The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God.
¹¹ In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. ¹² Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. ¹³ Do not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer every part of yourself to him as an instrument of righteousness. ¹⁴ For sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under the law, but under grace.

Slaves to Righteousness

¹⁵ What then? Shall we sin because we are not under the law but under grace? By no means! ¹⁶ Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one you obey—whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness? ¹⁷ But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you have come to obey from your heart the pattern of teaching that has now claimed your allegiance. ¹⁸ You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.
¹⁹ I am using an example from everyday life because of your human limitations. Just as you used to offer yourselves as slaves to impurity and to ever-increasing wickedness, so now offer yourselves as slaves to righteousness leading to holiness. ²⁰ When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the control of righteousness. ²¹ What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death! ²² But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life. ²³ For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in^[b] Christ Jesus our Lord.

Jealousy, Mob Violence, Ignorant Ones Following the Herd

I was struck this morning by how familiar the events described in Acts 17 seem today in our age of community organizers, social media, political corruption & power grabbing, Soros funding, and mob violence. Now if only we could be bold, obedient, and Spirit filled in presenting the Gospel with clarity as Paul was.

"What has been is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done, and there is nothing new under the sun." (Ecclesiastes 1:9)

Selected verses from Acts 17 are quoted below to illustrate this point, with caps added for emphasis and comments in brackets.

5 But the Jews were JEALOUS, and taking some wicked men of the rabble, THEY FORMED A MOB, set the city in an UPROAR and ATTACKED the house of Jason, seeking to bring them out to the crowd. 6 And when they could not find them, they dragged Jason and some of the brothers before the city authorities, SHOUTING [false accusations].... 8 And the people and the city authorities were DISTURBED when they heard these things....

13 But when the Jews from Thessalonica learned that the word of God was proclaimed by Paul at Berea also, they came there too, AGITATING AND STIRRING UP THE CROWDS....

18 Some of the Epicurean (very emotional, worldly pleasure seekers) and Stoic philosophers also conversed with him. And some said, “What does this BABBLER wish to say?” [If you try to reason logically today using more than Twitter's maximum character limit, you are labeled a "babbler".]
19 And they took him and brought him to the Areopagus [a place for discussing philosophical ideas which would be alot like digital "news" and social media today]...

21 Now all the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there would spend their time in NOTHING except telling or hearing something new.

30 The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, 31 because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.”

32 Now when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some MOCKED. But others said, “We will hear you again about this.”

Only the gospel of Christ can free us from folly, ignorance, hatred, and despair. So why do so many Americans insist that we keep it from the public square?

3 For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another. 4 But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, 5 he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, 6 whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, 7 so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.  (Titus 3:3-7, ESV)