TRUE BEAUTY LIES IN MODESTY

I have seven daughters and so seven very good reasons to be concerned about the issue of modesty.
I came from the 'go-go' generation....born in the late 50's and growing up in the 60's and 70's. I've witnessed the gradual undressing of America over the years. Not that I have by any means led my life as a 'prude'. Before I was converted, I had very little inhibition about clothing and even after I met the Saviour, I know he must have grit his teeth more than once at what I allowed myself to be seen in!
The Lord knows, as I do now, that we don't all grow at the same spiritual rate. What I know now took years of study, prayer and conviction to assimilate.
One very important lesson I learned is that modesty for a Christian woman is a glory!
Maybe the fashions of today are eye-catching with the piercings, tattoos and all clothes worn tight, short and provacatively.....and maybe to wordly eyes they shimmer of a carnel beauty, but a truly modest woman, who has a meek, Godly nature ....well, that is a special loveliness that even the world can notice and admire.
Is modesty just clothing though? No...my belief is that modesty is more of an attitude. Does modesty mean being a perpetual wallflower? Speaking only when spoken to and acting demure and innocent?
I don't believe that either. I think a woman can be discreet...thinking about what she says before she says it, I think she can speak her mind and do so in a Godly fashion without railing and nagging. I think that a woman who has taken a few minutes with her Heavenly Father each day to pray and ask for guidance in ALL things (nothing is too small for our Lord) and than listens with her spiritual ears for direction is a beauty none can surpass. It's what I strive to be and yet in this flesh, tend to come far short, but continue to strive for.

Saying this, how does this fit in to mother and child health and what is the great deception in this?
First, young ladies that grow up in Christian homes where standards of dress are of import, are less likely to attract attention from the crowd that views women as sexual objects alone. These girls do not uncover thighs, midriffs, backs, or wear low-cut dresses and tops. They guard what is private because God created their bodies to serve Him and not to be exploited by the world. Usually, these young ladies are taught that the MARRIAGE bed is undefiled.....that means get married before you have a sexual union, otherwise the relationship is DEFILED!

This is where God's outline for Christian health is shown: STD's are not usually found in a faithful, Christian marriage. Your desire is for each other and is not to be impeded by artificial means such as birth control pills, spermicides or 'sex toys' which not only harm desire for each other, but have the capacity to bring in bacteria into the most vulnerable parts of your body.

Rapes and murders that begin with rape are usually fueled by pornography which has taken hold in the mind of a sick individual. If you don't think that rape is a sexual crime but have bought the lie of rape being a violent act against women regardless what they look like, well...I think you are a bit naive. Maybe that isn't true ALL the time but more times than not, it is true!
Don't go out dressed like a street walker if you don't want that kind of attention. God does look on the heart but remember it is those that are around you that see the outside and judge what you are because of it.

The great deception is that most churches have abandoned teaching men and women standards of dress and what true modesty means . Most preachers are worried about 'offending' their congregation because they .....to put it plainly.....need their retirement money! Remember, the corporate church has to please Caesar first and then....if it's comfortable, please the Lord. So, you end up with a lot of young men and women coming into the congregation with all the world's trimmings and it becomes a social club where fashion trends are upheld and the salt of the gospel is absorbed in the world's soup!
These folks later grow into old men and women that except for getting up close and seeing the front of them, you can't tell which is which! The women are all shorn, wear pants and tee-shirts and the men are the same.
There is no femininity, there is no example for the younger women. Yet, these folks say they are Chrsitians. Well, maybe so....but shouldn't you see the fruit of a tree on the outside of the tree?

In closing, what I hope to pass on in this blog today, is that the men and women, mothers and fathers of our churches, need to take seriously the idea of seperation in ALL aspects of our lives. Women cannot be exploited unless they allow it and men will not exploit them if women hold their position as saints in Christ seriously. Ladies, if that is what you claim to be because you have been born again, then don't allow Satan to get that foothold in your life. Let the world that is sick and dying see Christ in you by the way to walk, talk and dress and teach your children by example......before it's too late and they see the hypocrasy instead.