5 Reasons I Dress Modestly

Once upon a time I did a little informal poll. (And by that I mean I asked three friends the same question.)  I wanted to know why they tried to dress modestly. Two of the three said they didn't want the wrong attention of men. All three of these ladies are gorgeous ladies; I can see why men would find them attractive. But I was a little surprised at their motivation for how they dress. 

 Our ultimate motivation must always stem from a desire to please God.  I don't dress modestly for men because I'm not responsible for them. There are some men who have trained their eyes to move and their thoughts to redirect no matter how scantily clad the woman is. And then there are men who could lust after a nun. Nowhere in the Bible when Jesus addresses lust does He give men an out if a woman is immodest. It's never even mentioned. He simply mentions their responsibility for their thoughts because of their relationship with God. 

Now obviously we are not to be a stumblingblock (Romans 14:13). We are are not free to do whatever we want without thought of how it affects other people (1 Peter 2:16, 1 Corinthians 10:23). Don't worry, I'm going to briefly mention the men's issue again in a minute. I just want the primary motivation for godly dress to be right. 

The Bible actually only says a little about dressing modestly.  1 Timothy 2:9 uses the phrase "modest apparel." (We also know there is such a thing as immodest dress from Proverbs 7:10.) So if it's an arguable point, why is how I dress such a big deal? 

1. I am God's daughter, a royal child. If it would be inappropriate for Kate Middleton to dress certain ways, why not me? 

2. My body is sacred as the temple of God. He lives within me. 

3. I respect myself and want the respect, not the stares, of others. 

4. I believe that my worth is a lot more than what my body looks like. 

5. My nakedness is a gift to my husband, no one else. 

As in all things, when I obey God He blesses abundantly (that includes those men I said were responsible for themselves). Not only do I have the blessings of obedience but this almost-exclusively skirts-wearing girl (threw that in there, didn't I?) gets "ma'am-ed" a lot by men.  When I get second glances in public it's because someone is counting my kids (three, just three) not because my clothes barely cover my body.

Read this next statement closely. I don't care what you wear. I'm not trying to lay down my standards to be yours. Ok, we all good there? You dress the way you believe God would have you to.  I wear skirts because if I wore pants my motivation would be to look good in them. And I don't mean in a nice way. As my blogger friend Phylicia says, "How holy can I be?" should be the question. 

Since I mentioned that I wear skirts I might as well tell you why. I love that skirts cause others to assume that I'm a Christian (at least where I live). I've had people ask me where I went to church and if I was a Christian solely because I was wearing a skirt. 

I also love that skirts are distinctly feminine. In our increasingly androgynous society I want to embrace my femininity. I love being a woman and the gifts and callings that God only gives to women. 

I hope that wearing skirts draws little attention; it's not a major point to me. But at the same time I want the fact that I try to dress like a lady to bring honor to Christ.  I know that dressing like a lady draws attention; you've probably noticed that too. That's ok. I'm cool with what I'm doing. We're all going to get attention for something; why not make it something that points to Christ?

What motivates your dress? Share it with me in the comments! 

(The day I edited this post I read two other interesting blog posts about modesty and dress. You can read them here and here.)