Marriage

I want to tie together three recent incidents.

1. The Girl. I saw one of the young twenty-something women from our church right after her day at work. She was dressed in a very worldly way – short-shorts and a very low-cut shirt – showing too much for a nightclub no less her place of employment!

2. The Ad. A radio advertisement ran last week encouraging the mothers of teenagers to shop for back-to-school clothing for their daughters at two particular stores. The promotion was on Christian radio because the stores were marketing modest but fashionable clothing for their daughters. (Hooray for the mothers who teach their daughters to be modest in the way they dress!)

3. The Boy. My husband and I were visiting a friend with a twenty-something son. He had several friends over, all male and all Christian. They came into the room where we were talking with his parents and the conversation turned to girls. As the adults in the room started asking the guys about specific girls at least twice they ruled out a girl based on her immodest clothing choices. They saw a definite spiritual shallowness in a young woman who showed too much skin on Sunday morning or in their social get-togethers. These were not girls they saw as potential wives.

This young woman I saw this week is the tip of the iceberg. It’s difficult to discern a Christian from any other girl in a crowded room these days. Yet, I hear again and again of young women concerned about finding a mate. They want a godly man, one willing to be the spiritual leader of their family and who will take their guidance from the scriptures. But they try to attract them in worldly ways.

Many of these young women would try to tell me that they can’t find anything BUT this kind of trashy clothing styles. Don’t try that, girls – I shop, too. Modest clothing is out there (and becoming more and more available as women ask for it.) I’m not saying that young women have to dress like they’re in their fifties. You can be stylish and modest. Lots of women are doing it!

So, Moms, teach your daughters what it means to be modest. Daughters, if you’re looking for the Christian man of your dreams remember that he will be looking for a Christian woman who is also godly and that includes modest. He isn’t going to want you to be showing the world the parts of your body that should be kept just for him. There’s a disconnect between what you’re showing and what you’re saying.

1 Timothy 2:9a, I also want women to dress modestly, with decency and propriety.