SPIRITUAL DISCERNMENT

 In Titus 1:12, Paul quotes a native cultural expert from the island of Crete who wrote, “Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, and lazy gluttons.” How’s that for a generalization?  If you would allow me to play cultural observer for a moment, I think it would be fair to say that Nigerian culture on the whole is sexually-charged, immoral, and immodest. It’s getting worse. We are now exporting nakedness. We are educating and tutoring our younger ones with immorality. We are now becoming champions of immodesty. In Churches nowadays, Immorality had infiltrated into the Church. We had imported strange doctrines and teachings into our religion. Modesty is no more amongst things that is being preached.

Are we like the same descriptions Apostle gave in Titus.1:12? What is the difference between us the Church and the “CREATENS”? I simply say, no difference………

I want to exhort you toward modesty:

 

DEVELOP THE SPIRITUAL DISCERNMENT OF MODESTY

 Women, do you know that majority of you had been attracting wrong men? All that you need is to develop the spiritual discernment of modesty.

Ladies, learn to think, shop, act, and dress like God’s daughters. Men, view the ladies around you as God’s daughters.

Here are four questions that you ladies can ask yourself about your clothing, your appearance, and your motivations:

(1) Why do I want to purchase or wear this?

 

Am I seeking the pleasure of God or the attention of men

o    Do I really need this? You could feed and educate three children a month for the price of a nice blouse from the shopping center. This doesn’t mean you can’t or shouldn’t buy the blouse. But it raises some good questions about how we spend our money.

o    Is my heart becoming entangled with the cares of the world?

o    Are there any particular guys whose attention I want to catch, or any particular girls that I’d like to envy me?

o    Am I willing to say no to purchasing this or wearing this?

o    Am I becoming a hyper-critical, judgmental, condescending, conscience-stricken, anti-beauty legalist? As much as we men want you to be modest, we also want you to be feminine and to maintain your beauty. I mean, on top of everything else, my wife is the best decoration in the house, to be quite frank. So I don’t want her enslaved or over-burdened by unbiblical conservative values. Nor does these types of overly strict, man-made rules please or honor God or cultivate a true heart of humble modesty

 

(2) How will my appearance affect others?

Will I manifest appropriate feminine beauty?

o    Will I bring undue attention to myself?

o    Will I be a distraction, or worse, a stumbling block?

o    How will this look when I’m sitting down or bending over? Modesty doesn’t mean that your skirt is modest in one position out of ten. Ask yourself, “Will I need to constantly pull this up or down or adjust in my seat to be modest?”

o    What do my husband, parents, wise leaders, and mature friends say? We fathers have a very serious responsibility to instruct, guide, and help our daughters with their hearts and their clothing choices. Every dad should say at some point, “I’m sorry, honey, but you can’t go out of the house wearing that.” “I’m sorry, honey, but I can’t let you wear that because of how men will look at you.” “I’m sorry, honey, but you’re a grown teenage girl and that’s not appropriate to wear in the house even around family.”

o    Am I willing to err on the side of caution

 

(3) What does my appearance say about me?

Who and what am I identifying with?

o    What does this say about my priorities?

o    What am I becoming known for? “Good looks or good works”? My “clothing or my character”? My fashion or my spiritual fruit?

o    What do my receipts from this year say about my priorities? What about the time, energy, and thought that I put into my appearance? How about the amount of clothes, shoes, make-up, and accessories I own?

o    Am I becoming enslaved to being “counter-cultural” in unbiblical ways? Again, legalism and over-restrictive convictions are also a danger

 

(4) What kind of example am I setting for others?

My children?  My friends? Would I want my young daughter to wear what I’m wearing?

Now, when we talk about developing the spiritual discernment of modesty, I understand that there’s one particular question here that can be very difficult to answer. It’s number two.  How will my appearance affect others? We want to be practical, but not legalistic. We want to be specific, but not inappropriate. You ladies may be rightfully and righteously interested in what’s helpful and what’s hurtful when it comes to your brothers in Christ. But how can you find out?

I want to introduce you to a very helpful online survey that was done by the Harris brothers. “The Modesty Survey is an exciting, anonymous discussion between Christian guys and girls who care about modesty. Hundreds of Christian girls contributed to the 148-question survey and over 1,600 Christian guys submitted 150,000+ answers, including 25,000 text responses, over a 20-day period in January 2007.” The responders were 43% homeschoolers, 40% public scholars, and 13% private scholars. 45% were college graduates and 14% were college students. The average age was 22½.

They wisely provide seven guidelines as an introduction to the survey. The first three are absolutely essential for our purposes.

 (1) Please, approach the survey as a resource, not a list of rules.
(2) Always honor your parents above the results of the survey

(Ephesians 6:1-3).
(3) Seek personal feedback on your attire from the godly men and women in your life.
(4) Remember, modesty is first and foremost a matter of the heart, not the wardrobe.
(5) Faithfully pursue the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit

(1 Peter 3:4).
(6) Let your good works outshine your outward appearance (1 Timothy 2:10).
(7) Dress for the glory of God (1 Corinthians 10:31).

The survey is specific and comprehensive. Here are the categories:

(1) General/Other
(2) Swimsuits
(3) Undergarments
(4) Shirts/Dresses
(5) Layering
(6) Pants/Shorts/Leggings
(7) Skirts
(8) Posture/Movement
(9) Makeup/Jewelry/Hair/Shoes
(10) Open Questions

And here are some of the answers. Again, these are not scriptural commands or even biblical guidelines. They are simply the results of this survey, informed by your fellow believers, both men and women. The statements in quotes are the questions of the survey. This is just a sampling.

·         “Girls can dress attractively without being immodest.” 97% agree.

·         “A guy can consider a girl attractive without thinking about her in an impure way.” 95% agree.

·         “Sleeveless shirts or dresses (i.e. bear arms) are immodest.” 61% disagree, 18% neutral, 21% agree.

·         “Dresses that are fitted at the waist (e.g. with a belt or waistband) are a stumbling block.” 78% disagree.

·         “Spaghetti-strap shirts and dresses are immodest.” 61% agree, 20% disagree, 19% neutral.

·         “The same standards of modesty should apply to wedding and bridesmaids’ dresses as to everyday attire.” 65% agree.

·         “Wearing pants with words across the backside is a stumbling block.” 84% agree.

·         “It is immodest for a girl to expose her calves (i.e. knee downward).” 83% disagree, 10% neutral, 7% agree.

·         “Skirts that fall above the knee are immodest.” 58% agree, 19% neutral, 23% disagree. One commenter put it well: “That’s getting into dangerous territory, especially when [women] sit down.” And know that 93% of responders said that “Miniskirts are immodest.”

 Women, Embrace the ultimate solution for immodesty (Psalm 32:1).

*My ultimate need is not more clothing or better clothing. My ultimate need is not even a gentle and quiet spirit or a life of good works or a God-honoring wardrobe. I need righteousness. The ultimate solution for immodesty is the gospel.

Psalm 32:1 — “Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.”

The righteousness of Christ has covered us, and we are now to dress as those who desire to make people notice that righteousness. We want people to see that God has clothed us, not that the GAP has clothed us or that Hollister has clothed us or that Calvin Klein has clothed us or that J. Crew has clothed us. We are wearing Christ. Let it be known.

Christ was clothed with a mocking purple robe and a crown of thorns so that I might wear His righteousness (Mark 15:17). And Christ was undressed and uncovered and exposed on the cross so that my sin and my shame might be covered (Luke 23:34).

God dresses His Son in my wickedness so that I might be dressed in His righteousness. God stripped His Son of His glory so that I might be brought into the freedom of the glory of the children of God. Christ paid in blood for my clothing.

And because the gospel is the ultimate solution for our widespread and comprehensive immodesty, it is also the ultimate motivation for our widespread and comprehensive modesty. I want my life to adorn the gospel! The gospel has clothed us, and now we want to clothe the gospel. The gospel is making us beautiful once again, and now we want to make the gospel beautiful. We want our lives to dress up the gospel, to make it attractive, to entice people to Christ’s forgiveness and His transforming power. We want to live in such a way that others are attracted to Jesus Christ.

So when you browse the clothing racks at your favorite store… when you slide your clothes off their hangers in the morning… when you stand readying yourself for the day in front of the full-length mirror… when you walk out the door in the morning… when you set foot on your high school campus… when you walk around the house in front of your young daughters and sons… when you pass through the double doors of the sanctuary… you are dressing up the gospel. Do it beautifully.

 

I pray that the SPIRITUAL BATTLE OVER YOUR LIFE IS OVER IN JESUS NAME. Amen

 

Thank You and God bless you all.

 

Naomi Createslife