Tuesday, September 21, 2010

a level of standards.



My husband and I have been discussing modesty a bit. This topic is something I believe the Christian world is losing sight of.

Slowly the lines between Christian modesty and fitting into the world are becoming blurred. And certain Christian circles are in it.

The more children I have, the more my husband and I raise our standards for modesty in our lives and the lives of our children.

Like I said in a past post, I do not only wear ankle length skirts, but I do feel knee length is a good standard for me and my girls. It's worth it to take extra steps to make sure our backs and rears are covered during altar call or sitting in church. The cultural norm of wearing tight fitting pants is another discussion that more Christians should have and the choices they make concerning that.

I had a woman in our church tell me that it's more the responsibility of the man to keep his wandering eye in line, but I disagree. The Bible tells us to be aware of things we may do that could cause another to sin. What if a couple is struggling in their marriage; or a man's wife is sick and not up to par; or he's a single newly saved man just entering into the relationship with Christ... or-- the list could go on and on.

Sometimes my husband and I fall into the category of walking away saying, "What were they thinking?"

Maybe they need attention, maybe their husband needs that worldly confirmation that he has a pretty wife. Maybe the woman actually likes the other men's attention.

But I think God has called the Christian not to be stumbling block for others and that our beauty is not in our attire or tied to our immodesty. The Christian world should not be blending in with the unsaved, but setting itself apart. That is the femininity that I am trying to instill and contend for in each of my daughter's lives.

Teaching them to set themselves apart and contend for the higher things God has for them.

7 comments:

Unknown said...

Well said!

Anonymous said...

I whole heartedly believe in modesty of men as well as women. Too many youngsters now days are revealing far more than they should and the parents & schools are letting them do it.
I can remember our strict dress code when I was in high school. What ever happened to that??
Have A Great Day!!
Love,
Marilyn

April said...

Nicely put! I agree with you.

Deanna Rabe - Creekside Cottage Blog said...

A good read is "Christian Modesty and the Public Undressing of America." It was very eye opening...

Theresa said...

Amen!
So sad to see Christians dressing in ways that cause their brothers to stumble.

Marla Grace said...

I agree,with you.So many things in this day in age,going astray!It is our duty ,to train our children.God bless you!Marla

Kelly said...

With us, we wear our skirts to about mid-calf or longer. It makes it so that you can't see up the upper leg when sitting. Sometimes (especially with small girls who aren't fully trained on how to sit in a skirt), when the skirt is to the knee, it goes up quite a bit higher when you sit down. Depending on the skirt, it can be easy to see things people shouldn't when that happens. Oh, and bloomers are really nice for the littler girls. You can find them online. Because of Michaela's handicap, she wore them even when she was older, and I had them specially made.

We also use the same standard for boys (although, it really just means they stay in pants all the time). Boys don't tend to sit in such a way that keeps people from seeing up their shorts. The pants just completely take away that problem. And believe it or not, boys that grow up wearing pants even in the summer, don't tend to think that it's as hot as everyone might make it out to be :)

Just some helpful insight from someone who's been on the road for a while :D

Love you all, Kell