Dressing Modestly and Femininely in this Present World: Part 6

  Before, we have talked about dressing modestly and pleasing God in our dress. Today, in my last post on dress, we are going to talk about dressing femininely. In my research for this post, the book What in the World should I Wear by Mrs. Cathy Corle , and Your Clothes Say it for You by Mrs. Elizabeth Handford have been a great help to me and I will be quoting some things they said throughout this post.

  Deuteronomy 22:5 says, "A woman shall not wear that which pertaineth to a man, neither shall a man put on a woman's garment: for all that do so are an abomination unto the Lord thy God."

 This is what Mrs. Cathy Corle said in her book, "In studying the subject a few years ago and examining more closely what the Bible has to say about this, it became evident to me. When God gave the distinction between men and women in dress he chose for the lady to wear a dress- a long flowing garment - and hair that is long and flowing, which is more gracious and feminine and lovely than the appearance of a man. God directed for a man to wear pants or breeches and a short haircut, which by nature is more masculine."

  Notice. She examined what the Bible had to say about the issue. Remember, God and the Bible should always govern our lifestyle. That is why  I will continue to give scripture throughout this post.
  Lets look at our verse again. The last part says, "...Neither shall a man put on a woman's garment, for all that do so are an abomination unto the Lord." -Deuteronomy 22:5 b. 

  We get grossed out about the homosexuals wearing women's clothing and we think it wrong and disgusting. Then what makes it right for women to wear pants- men's clothing?  We are doing the same thing by wearing them but we get grossed out about  men wearing skirts. Isn't it equally wrong? God calls both of them an abomination. The Bible even says that we are an abomination to God when we dress that way. An abomination is something extremely hated and makes God morally sick.

  You may ask, "Is it a sin for girls to wear pants?" First we need to look at what sin is. Sin is something that displeases God and disobeys His Word. If girls wearing pants is an abomination, which is something God hates, and the Bible says- "Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin."; then for girls to wear pants is a sin.

Remember when we were talking about  the outward appearance? Before my Mom started dressing the way she does now, she went to the store one day and saw some ladies wearing culottes. You know what her thought was? She thought, "Those ladies must be Christians." My Mom was saved, but how did she know that they were Christians? The Lord showed her that if she thought that they were Christians because they wore skirts or culottes, shouldn't she dress that way to so others would see that she was a Christian?

You may be tempted to choose one way of dressing over the other- dressing modestly or femininely- because it is sometimes hard to find the right clothes. But you don't have to choose between them. In Mrs. Elizabeth Handford's book she said, "Charles Spurgeon has some good advice on this problem: 'When choosing the lesser of the two evils, choose neither'...God promises in I Corinthians 10:13 to provide a way that you can escape from temptation. God always keeps His Word. So there is always, always, a way to solve this problem without choosing the lesser of the two evils. You may have to do a lot of creative thinking (and perhaps some designing and sewing). I didn't promise that it would be the easy way out! But you can find a garment to wear that is both feminine and modest."
You can also look at part 4 of my posts on dress for tips on dressing modestly and femininely.

The Bible says in I Thessalonians 5:24- "Faithful is he that calleth you who also will do it." If God commands it He will help you do it. He doesn't ask you to do the impossible.

Now, I've showed you from the Bible what God says about your dress. However, I can not make you do this. In the end the choice is yours. I can't convict you of what you need to do, only the Holy Spirit can. Philippians 2:13 says, "For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure." 

So what about you, dear sister in Christ? Are you going to start dressing in a way that pleases God? Are you going to take a stand and dress modestly and femininely? What will you decide?

Dressing Modestly and Femininely in This Present World: Part 5

  Hello, again! Thank you for joining me in our quest for pleasing God in our dress. It is so important! :)


  I Timothy 2:9 tells us to "adorn ourselves" (dress) "in modest apparel, with shamefacedness and sobriety, not with broided hair, or gold, or pearls, or costly array." Many girls get thrown off at that saying, "Okay, then can I not dress pretty? Do I have to wear plain ugly clothes and look outdated?"
No! That's not what that verse means. When our verse said to not dress with broided hair, or gold or costly array, if we look further it says for us to dress with "that which becometh women professing Godliness."

  I Peter 3:4 says, "But let it be the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price."  It means that we should be more concerned with what God thinks about us and what he sees.
"Set your affections on things above, not on things on the earth." -Colossions 3:2

  The Bible also says- "man looketh on the outward appearance, but God looketh on the heart."
God does see the heart and that's most important, but since the Bible talks about our outward appearance, isn't it also important? That's the only thing other people can see. God wants you to look beautiful, that's how He created you to be. You don't have to look like you came from the 1800's. You can dress beautifully and in style as long as you dress modestly and  are pleasing to the Lord.

  My Mom was talking one day to me and Brenna; she said that we need to dress modestly, but nicely. Whenever we walk out the door to go somewhere we should look nice. We should make sure our hair is fixed and that we look put together.

  I Corinthians 14:40 says, "Let all things be done decently and in order." I tell the kids in our nursery "When God created everything He made everything just right and when He saw it He said that it was good. And it was good!" He made everything decently and in order. Because we are His children- we should dress that way.

  We are starting a church and we are inviting people to come. We want teen girls to come. They aren't going to think much of us if we look frumpy. Wouldn't they be turned away if we looked like that?
  We want to win friends and influence people. We want to be able to win them to the Lord.
   -- ''Even as I please all men in all things, not seeking mine own profit  but the profit of many that they may be saved." - I Corinthians 10:33  We want to see them saved we want them to to see a difference in us, and yet be drawn to us because we have the love of the Lord about us. Remember, it can be shown through our attitude and in the way we dress.

Not every style that comes along should a lady necessarily try. If having green hair is the new fad, that doesn't mean we should go to the salon and have them dye our hair green.

 Mrs.Elizabeth Hanford  was right when she wrote the book, Your Clothes Say it for You.  When we  dress we want others to see a difference in us. We want to dress in a way that makes people say, "That young lady is a Christian." We need to dress like ladies.

--When the Bible talks about  the bride of Christ it says that the bride adorned herself with jewels. (Isaiah 61:10)
-- Lydia, a godly woman of the New Testament, was a seller of purple. (Acts)
--The virtuous woman of the Proverbs 31- she made herself "coverings of tapestry; her clothing was silk and purple."
  So obviously, you can dress beautifully. We just need to dress in a way that pleases God and brings glory to His name. (I Corinthians 10:31) After all, we are all a child of the King of kings, the King of Glory.

So as we've seen, even though our heart is most important, God is also concerned with how we dress. He, in fact, has a lot to say about clothing.

 In our next and final post on dress we are going to look at another aspect-- dressing femininely.

Another Tip For Dressing modestly and Femininely in This Present World

   Recently my Mom found a site that sells the culottes that we like. She said that it is almost the same or is the same price as buying the fabric to make culottes. We were so excited to find it! Some of you may have heard of it before. The site is http://modestyinmotion.com/ . My Mom shared it with my friend who is also looking for culottes because she was wanting to please God.
 See, it's just like God to fulfill the needs of His people who are trying to please Him and do His will! Isn't He wonderful?!

Dressing Modestly and Femininely in this Present World: Part 3

  Welcome back to our posts on "How am I supposed to dress?"  In this post we are going to finish up the part on modesty.

  In our last post we saw what modesty means and what the Bible says is naked. We know that when this happens it is shameful and you are no longer called a lady.

So far we have seen that our clothes need to long enough and high enough.  But what about thick enough?  A tank top can go a long way to be more modest for when shirts are too low cut, or when they are too thin and a little see through.

Modesty is so important; we must be careful what we wear.

God doesn't want us to hide just skin, but the natural curves of a woman's body that would cause a man to lust. Now we are going to get to the bottom of it. Men are moved by sight while women are moved by words and touch.
 Matthew 5:28 says, "But I say unto you, that whosoever looketh on a women to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart."

"Let us not therefore judge one another anymore, but judge this rather that no man put a stumbling block or an occasion to fall in his brothers way.'' --Romans 14:13

 If a man looks on a woman to lust after her, he has already committed adultery in his heart. Likewise when a woman invites such attention and causes him to lust by the manner she is dressed, then she is an equal party.  She's also responsible.

When choosing clothes we need to ask ourselves, "Am I being a stumbling block to anybody?"

Not only in dressing immodestly can we cause a brother to fall, but more often we attract the wrong people and the wrong attention.  Jack Hyles said, " Anybody can get attention by taking off her clothes, but it takes a real lady to get attention through the sweet mystique of femininity."

This is why it is so important for us as Christian young ladies to dress modestly.  We are children of The King of Kings! We need to dress like one of His children.

 I hope you have enjoyed these last few posts just looking with me in The Bible to find the answers.  I pray that you will join me in my next post on dressing modestly and femininely.

Dressing Modestly and Femininely in This Present World: Part 2

  Welcome back to our posts on "How am I supposed to dress?''!

  The first thing we are going to look at is modesty.  --"In like manner also, women adorn themselves in modest apparel..."  - I Timothy 2:9

 My mom, who was once a youth pastor's wife, did a study on modesty with some teenage girls.
 She first addressed the issue by stating what modest apparel or katastole means. The definition of katastole is "long and flowing."

 My pastor once, when mentioning lady's clothing, said " It needs to be long enough, high enough, thick enough, and loose enough."

''How long is long?" Mom asked the teen girls, "Are you worried about being too christian?"

  My mom didn't always have these modest dress standards. When she was a teenager, she didn't dress modestly. Only after she was married and really started following God did she start dressing modestly. Mom, knowing those girls' hearts and mind-set because she had been in their place, rightly said, "We find out the right way and go exactly to it -- after time it gradually gets shorter and shorter. Do you ever wonder why Christians want to live as close to the boundary line as possible? Those Christians will cross over that line."

  So how long is long?
  Isaiah 47:2-5 gives us the answer. Here is what it says-- "Take the millstones. and grind meal: uncover thy locks, make bare the leg, uncover the thigh,pass over the rivers.
 Thy nakedness shall be uncovered, yea, thy shame shall be seen: I will take vengeance, and I will not meet thee as a man. 
 As for our redeemer, the LORD  of hosts is his name, the Holy One of Israel.
 Sit thou silent, and get thee into darkness, O daughter of the Chaldeans: for thou shalt no more be called, The lady of kingdoms,"

These are the points my Mom gave:

  1. What does the Bible say is naked?  vs.s 2-3 "
"Take the millstones. and grind meal: uncover thy locks, make bare the leg, uncover the thigh,pass over the rivers. 
Thy nakedness shall be uncovered, yea, thy shame shall be seen: I will take vengeance, and I will not meet thee as a man.

  2. When this happens, it is shameful.-- vs.3
  3. You are no longer called a lady.-- vs.5 "

   What is your thigh? It should be covered at all times- sitting, standing, playing sports, etc. Since God considers the uncovering of the thigh, nakedness, then you need to be careful with the clothing you choose. It also needs to cover your knees. When addressing the question about how long is long, the length of your skirt needs to be long enough to cover your knees or the line will be crossed over. If your skirt/dress barely comes to your knee when standing, then it won't cover your knee when sitting.
   What about slits? They were made to reveal sensuality. When looking for skirts,don't measure what they show when standing, but measure what they show when walking.

 What about the upper half of your body?
Genesis 3:7, 21 --"And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked: and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons." vs.21- "Unto  Adam also and to his wife did the LORD God make coats of skins, and clothed them."

 When Adam and Eve ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, their eyes were opened and they saw that they were naked. So, they made themselves aprons out of fig leaves. When God saw that their eyes were opened and they saw that they were naked and made aprons, he knew that the aprons were not good enough for them and so God made them clothes out of skins. However, instead of aprons he made them coats.

  So, what is the difference between a coat and an apron? A coat covers the stomach, chest, shoulders, and arms. V,21 says He "clothed them", so were they clothed before? Since God had to clothe them they were not clothed before. They thought the aprons would work but God saw they needed coats. The Bible says, "For my thought are not your thoughts, neither your ways my ways saith the LORD." His ways are higher than ours.

 We've talked about measuring our skirts but what about your tops? When measuring how high your shirts need to be, place 4 fingers, under your collarbone. If your top is lower than your fourth finger than that top is probably too low. For some ladies, four fingers may be too much so use three fingers instead.

 Thank you for joining me on this post the Lord has laid on my heart. Please join me on my next post as we finish up on the subject dressing modestly.



























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Dressing Modestly and Femininely in this Present World: Part 1

          As a young lady with godly parents that have modest dress standards, I have worn skirts, coullottes and  modest clothing ever since I was born. Now, as a seventeen year old teenager, I need to know what I believe and why I believe it. It's not good enough that I do it just because my parents did it.  I need to decide for myself. When I was younger I just needed to learn to obey my parents, but when I got older I needed to know the whys for what we did.

   As a teenager, there are people around me that don't dress right. When peer pressure and temptation come around, if  I don't firmly stand on what I believe, then the foundation that my parents have laid for me will crumble.

  Many have asked the question, "How am I supposed to dress?" Many have answered that question and answered it right while yet others have answered it wrong. To answer that question we need and we must answer it by using the Bible. The Bible needs to be our final authority-- not the world, and not just because that's what your mother did, or what somebody else said.
 
    2 Timothy 3:16 says, "All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness."  

       The Bible is God breathed; it is God's Word. It is a road map for Christians...."Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? by taking heed thereto according to thy word." Psalm 119:9
We must look to God's Word to find the answer to the important question, "How am I supposed to dress?"

   Only when I got old enough to understand did my parent's teach me why we dress modestly. Ever since then, I have taken these standards as my own because my godly parents took time to show me-- from God's Word-- why we had those standards. They knew that if the Bible was my foundation, it would not crumble. --Psalm 119:89 " Forever, O LORD, thy word is settled in heaven."

  Has it been hard for me at times?  Yes, it has-- when my sister and I are the only ones out of a whole youth group to wear coullottes during an activity-- it is hard.  But the Bible says, "I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me."  God never said the Christian life would be easy, that's why he added- "... through Christ which strengtheneth me."   I Thessalonians 5:24 says, "Faithful is he that calleth you who also will do it."  He will give you the strength to do his will.

   We've seen that God's Word is the final answer (final authority).  From one teenage girl to another, if I showed you-- from the Bible--  that it is God's will for you to dress modestly, would you do it? As God's children we are bought with a price. Don't you want to please him?

   Dear sister in Christ, if you want to please Him and do his will, please keep reading.  In the next few posts we will dive deeper into the question , "How am I supposed to dress?"