What I Love: 7/27/13

After my post about modesty yesterday, I was reminded of this fantastic resource I'd stumbled across a few years ago. It's called the Modesty Survey, and basically, it's a survey of hundreds of Christian guys who gave their input as to what they see as modest. I love this because I want to be modest and protect the guys around me, but sometimes I just don't know. I might think something is modest (or sometimes I'm afraid I just don't think), and this is a really useful guide to get an idea of how guys see the world.

What I Love: 7/26/13

This video about bikinis and modesty. I came across it here. It is so true - our culture has completely stripped away modesty, and turned the very word into some sort of idea of a frumpy old grandma wearing eight layers of clothing. But what's it given us instead? Vulgar, less-is-more, the only way to look good on the beach is to wear as little clothing as possible. But it goes deeper than that. So much of our culture revolves around sexuality and attractiveness, but the world's broken idea of that is "I have to show myself off in order to be loved and attractive". But isn't it more attractive to be a little different, a little mysterious? To simply be a reflection of God's character that He made you to be? We are made in God's image, and our bodies are a temple of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 6:19-20). Shouldn't a temple be taken care of, kept holy, and not trashed?

Thank you to Jessica Rey for speaking truth. Also, if you are interested in her swimsuit designs, the website is here but it looks like a lot of them are sold out at the moment.

Modesty

Lately I have been thinking about what it means to be modest. This was sparked by a survey I read online, The Modesty Survey, conducted by The Rebelution. The survey was mainly about what Christian guys view as modest, and some of it surprised me. For example, having a purse strap across your chest between your breasts is a stumbling block for many guys. As a girl who loves fashion and loves to look nice, this was kind of an eye-opener for me. I am realizing that many of my shirts are probably too tight to be really modest, and some of my shorts are very short. What am I to do? Do I just never wear those again? Do I only wear them in certain places? Do I refashion them to make them more modest? How does one make shorts a good 6 inches longer anyway?

But I think modesty isn't just about how you dress. Attitude, and Actions have an influence on what guys will think about when they look at you. If your heart doesn't have a God-glorifying attitude, they're not going to see God. If you go around doing things that turn guys on, (flirting, trying to get attention) you will end up turning them on, even if it's just in their minds. Jesus says: "If anyone causes one of these little ones-those who believe in me-to stumble, it would be better for them to have a large millstone hung around their neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea." (Matthew 18:6 NIV) Wow! God feels very strongly about causing other Christians to stumble! As girls, we need to do our part to protect our brothers from sin.

What modesty really comes down to is who are you dressing for? Are you dressing to get guys attention? Maybe, you are just dressing to please yourself, what you think looks nice and not thinking about what God or guys will see (Mea culpa on this one). But who we need to be dressing for-myself included- is God. If God is pleased, you are modest.