Series on Modesty: Does What I Wear Matter to God?

Did you read the article on modesty in the Wall Street Journal?  Ladies Against Feminism linked to it recently.  Though the WSJ article may not be suitable for younger readers, I believe you'll find it to the point, and it certainly presents a question I believe is appropriate.  The question posed is, "Why do mothers let their girls dress that way?"
(For another post in this Series on Modesty, read "Why Do You Dress That Way?")


I've been pretty alarmed and discouraged by the trends in dress (or lack of it) over the last few years.  There is no escaping what females want to show these days.  Even if our men were to stay at home and never venture out, they would not be safe.  What is a Christian man desiring to keep his thoughts pure to do?  We try to shield our men from the images in the mail, and my son has become nearly professional at counting the ceiling tiles while standing in the checkout lines of grocery stores.  The internet is far worse.  Even a good filter doesn't keep everything out.  Is it any wonder that pornography is such a pernicious evil in our day, holding more and more men in its vicious grip?


But, think, Christian women!  Should we who are the temple of the Holy Spirit look like a temple of prostitution?  Should Christian men not be safe in our presence?!  If we are to be holy, even as God is holy, should we tempt our brothers to sin by wearing immodest, or tight-fitting clothing?  Should we or our daughters, who young girls look up to as examples of Godliness in dress and behavior, cause them to go astray?  God says, in His Word, that it would be better for a millstone to be tied around our neck and to be cast into the sea, than to cause a child to stumble.  Is it not stumbling if a girl dresses in a way that tempts the men who see her to lust?  What if she's copying your "style"?  And, let me tell you a secret:  you may think that you're "looking good" for a certain young man, but men are funny--the signals you send out to one, they all receive, and it doesn't matter if they're 16 or 60.


Let us not be conformed to this world, but instead, let us be transformed (which means to change externally one's outward form), by the renewing (a renovation which makes a person different than in the past) of our mind (our thinking), "that ye may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God." (Romans 12)


Let us not accept the world's standard, let us be willing to be different, even be willing to be thought weird, if necessary (though you can still be modest and dress well), rather than cause a man to have impure thoughts (which Christ says is the same as committing the sin of adultery).


I believe that we, as older women, need to help younger women and daughters--who profess to be Christians--to see this as an issue.  This is a bigger deal than girls and women realize, and we all need to take responsibility for our actions.  It's time to wake up!  Whose are you?!  If you belong to God, do you want to be fashionably worldly, or firmly holy?