If you have no sense of shame, you will never blush
Do you blush when ashamed? Are you ever ashamed? Or, should I ask, are you ever ashamed of dressing in a way that dishonors you and those around you? Moreover, are you ever ashamed of dishonoring the Lord?
Proverbs 11: 22, Like a gold ring in a pig’s snout is a beautiful woman without discretion.
A sense of shame used to be considered a good thing. No longer. We’ve forgotten how to blush because we are no longer ashamed of our sinful behaviors. We don’t even know that we need to blush.
For us to feel ashamed, we must understand we have something to be ashamed of. To blush, we must realize that we have a reason to blush. For there to be a reason to blush, there must be a standard that we are breaking. That standard is the inerrant, infallible, and sufficient Word of God. But who teaches us this in these dark days?
Why didn’t they tell us?
Why should we get embarrassed and blush about walking around nearly naked in public when pastors don’t condemn immodesty from the pulpit?
Or when our husbands and fathers look the other way as their wives and daughters parade their nakedness for other men to see?
How are we to even know that we’re sinning when our mothers often dress immodestly?
Few will speak up
Not everyone believes that bikinis are immodest. Aimee Byrd refuses to state that you cannot be holy in a bikini. Many women in the church hang on every word she says. Through her leftward stances and progressive views, she leads many astray.
Even in conservative churches, those who speak out against parading around nearly naked are branded as legalistic.
Sisters, we have an obligation to honor the Lord concerning our clothing choices. We also have an obligation to our brothers to dress appropriately so as not to be a stumbling block to them. We can’t willingly dress sensuously, ignoring that men are more visual than women, and be a cause for them to stumble and think that God is somehow pleased with us or doesn’t hold us accountable. When we flaunt our bodies, we’re not proving our supposed freedom in Christ. Our willful immodesty proves how defiant we are to Christ.
Choosing modesty
1 Timothy 2: 9-10, Likewise also that women should adorn themselves in respectable apparel, with modesty and self-control, not with braided hair and gold or pearls or costly attire, but with what is proper for women who profess godliness—with good works.
It isn’t decent to be in a state of undress in the presence of others. Nakedness is to be hidden or only to be revealed for one’s husband. But that’s what most swimsuits promote, isn’t it? Nakedness? Could you put on your bra and your panties–your tiniest ones–and walk outside for the world to see? No? Why not? It’s shameful, immodest, and it would make you blush–that’s why. Your bikini is also shameful and immodest as it presents you to the world nearly naked. Because we’re generally (though not always) still taught that underwear is immodest to wear in public, those of us with a modicum of dignity won’t go around others in our underwear. The difference in us thinking it’s acceptable to be seen nearly naked in a bikini but unacceptable to be seen nearly naked (even though we’re perhaps better covered) in our underwear is due to conditioning.
Bikinis, however, aren’t the only swimwear that are immodest. Most tankinis and one-piece swimsuits are hardly better. This kind of swimsuit still reveals much of your body, still show the outline of intimate areas. They hug your body tightly, and bring to light that which ought to remain covered. They still are designed to elicit sexual thoughts and feelings in men.
For those who desire to swim, there are modest options for swimsuits, but how many choose them? Few.
Teach our daughters to blush
It’s not legalistic to stand for truth. We must teach our daughters what the Lord has said and model truth ourselves. If we don’t, they will pick up the attitude and style of the culture or their friends. Even conservative churches seldom have any standards on modesty during the worship service and rarely is modesty ever addressed from the pulpit. Following our feelings, allowing others to influence us, and being afraid to take a stand is how we got to where we are.
Men are visually stimulated
Ladies, it cannot be said enough: Men are visually stimulated. God wired men this way so that they would be enticed by the beauty of their wives. Yet, in this day and age, women think nothing of causing men to lust and then turning around and blaming the men for what they themselves caused. If we willingly ignore this, we are showing that our hearts are hardened. If we refuse to listen to the pleas of our brothers in Christ to dress modestly, we are showing our selfishness. We are demonstrating just how hardened our hearts are.
I’m not saying men have no responsibility. Of course they do. Matthew 5: 28 says, But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart.
But if we light a match and throw it into something flammable and it catches fire, we’re the one responsible. Men have their part (protecting their mind and heart) and we have our part (dressing to please God and protecting our brother’s eyes).
1 Corinthians 8: 9-13,
But take care that this right of yours does not somehow become a stumbling block to the weak. For if anyone sees you who have knowledge eating in an idol’s temple, will he not be encouraged, if his conscience is weak, to eat food offered to idols? And so by your knowledge this weak person is destroyed, the brother for whom Christ died. Thus, sinning against your brothers and wounding their conscience when it is weak, you sin against Christ. Therefore, if food makes my brother stumble, I will never eat meat, lest I make my brother stumble.
The choice of what we choose to wear can either be a blessing to our bothers or a cause of stumbling. If we are modest and men still lust after us, they are sinning and the fault is theirs alone, but if we fail to dress modestly and they sin we are also to blame.
Let us choose wisely, sisters. Let us seek to glorify our Lord with our choices.
Soli Deo Gloria!
Photo by Vicko Mozara on Unsplash
