Modesty

Modesty.  That word seems to be coming up in conversation a lot lately.  Maybe it comes up more at the same time each year, as summer approaches, and I just haven’t been sensitive to it.  This year, though, I feel like I have had more conversations about modesty and what it means to be modest. 

We talked in our Ezer study about modesty and how it is more than just what you wear.  It’s about how you carry yourself and how you love others.  One of my favorite questions that came up as a check on modesty was, “Are you a ‘here I am’ person or a ‘there you are’ person?” 

We can certainly see examples of modest and immodest behavior all over our culture – politics, athletics, movies, and at work.  So if modesty is about more than what you wear, why do people put so much emphasis on what women wear?  Why does Paul feel the need to directly address it in his letter to Timothy?

“…women should adorn themselves in respectable apparel, with modesty and self-control…” – 1 Timothy 2.9

I think this video gives us, as women, a clear idea of why our choice of clothing is important:

I encourage you to listen to the entire sermon and share it.

As the men in the video share, I think that many women do not understand how their choice of clothing affects men.  I don’t think this is always true, though.  Many women know exactly what they are doing when they get dressed.  I think the other, perhaps more pervasive reason behind immodest dress is an issue of value and identity.

In my next several posts, I will elaborate on these 2 reasons and I would love to hear your feedback and thoughts.

Modesty - Identity and Value Part 1
Modesty - Identity and Value Part 2
Modesty - Loving Well
Modesty - Instructing the Next Generation