By Dr. M. Chola
A word that has been tossed to and fro with no proper understanding. Our view and definition of it has been distorted and blurred by experience, culture and tradition. You see, growing up, I was taught that one who is modest is one who dresses well, is independent, has a descent job, has a good looking husband or wife and maintains a good marriage. I went to high school and I realised there was a different side all altogether. All through my high school years, I learnt that one who does not insult, take alcohol, listen to secular music etc. unfortunately, I set these things as my standard. I desperately needed to be called a modest women, I mean who wouldn’t be?
As I grew up, I started to mature in faith. I partnered with the Holy Spirit and He begun to teach me what true modesty is. He took me to the word, He begun to sanctify me. John 17:17 “sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth”.
What then is modesty?
Modesty is synonymous to humility. Humility is the opposite of pride. This makes modesty an attitude of humility. An attitude of the heart!
With that being said, I realised that you one can be physically attractive, financially stable, academically sound, and even spiritually attractive but without humility, they live a useless life. James said “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”
Having a pure, humble and meek heart is what modesty looks like. It is as always, from the inside out. Having a pure heart is everything. Proverbs says from it (your heart) come issues of life. Evaluate the state of your heart by reflecting on your life choices!
Luke 6:45
“The good person out of the good treasure stored in his heart produces good and an evil person produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks.”
Not to be heretic, but let’s for one second replace the word “good” with “humble and “evil” with “pride”. Let’s just say out of the abundance of the heart the mouth, body and actions speak. It’s all about the attitude of the heart.
There are a lot of areas in which this attitude must be expressed especially in our Christian walk. In this series, I am going to tackle three important areas. We will deal with one today and the rest will follow, so, if you were planning to not come back to the blog again, sorry you are trapped to finish what you started lol!
Here we go!
1) Humility should be expressed in DRESSING
1 peter 3:4
“But let you adorning be the hidden person of your heart with imperishable beauty of a gentle spirit, which is God’s sight is very precious”
The last blog post was on appearances and how we handle it as Christians.
This one similar to was posted. It keeps coming up yeah? Am pretty sure the reason is because it is a clarion call to check how we present ourselves to God and others.
Whenever you are looking for clothes to wear, what are your motives? Why should you wear that pencil skirt with that particular skirt? Is it that you want to seek attention? Who is getting the glory? Where’s your heart in it?
When last did you ask the Holy Spirit what you should wear when going to work, school, church or literally any occasion? When last did you involve Him as you went shopping for clothes? Our generation is in a crisis because we always forget to involve Him in our endeavours therefore, grabbing anything that the world throws at us. The world tells us to look sexy and draw all attention to ourselves. It tells us to expose a few parts of our bodies to be accepted. Humility does not draw attention to itself.
A woman with a humble and pure heart will consider what she wears because her heart determines her wardrobe. This refutes the common statement, “look at the heart and not the outward.” The outside reflects the inside.
I realised that some people are engulfed in the bondage of low self esteem and this almost always reflects in the physical appearance of a person. They need the attention and acceptance to boost their esteem and feel loved. The good news is that we have one who LOVES and ACCEPTS us just as we are. You do not need it from anyone else, it will always be conditional. All He requires is a pure hearts through sanctification. Hallelujah!
Let not your dress code be a stumbling block to anyone especially these that are weak. Paul, the apostle was telling the Corinthians to be sensitive. Be sensitive to the weak brothers that cannot handle your short skirts and cleavage. Be sensitive to the sister who is in the habit of gossiping (although this one too should repent!); be sensitive to the people assigned to your care.
Exercise time!
Go to your wardrobe, unpack all your clothes and shoes (some of y’all shoes are extra sexy, lol), ask the Holy Spirit to sieve them. As you pack them back into your closet, as Him the following questions.
1) What are my motives?
2) Who is getting the glory?
3) Am I genuine?
4) How’s my heart?
Prayer: father help me express modesty in my dressing/physical appearances. In know it’s a hard lesson for me but I am willing to relay on you to sanctify me.
In Jesus’ name, amen!
To be continued…..
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