Tuesday, September 6, 2016

Do You Sexually Harass Men By the Way You Dress?


Margaret Buchanan said "By dressing in a provocative way, girls and women are actually sexually harassing men." I agree with this statement 100%. Wise women know that dressing immodestly causes men to lust. This is one of the reasons the Lord commands women to be modest, discreet, and chaste. We are not to do anything to cause our brothers to stumble and we are responsible for how we dress and our actions. Most of you know what the word 'modest' means but do you understand what 'discreet' means for you?

The Bible calls women to be discreet: "that they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children, to be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed" {Titus 2:4, 5}. The definition of discreet is "not likely to be seen or noticed by many people." 

Many women today are anything but discreet. They do anything they can to be noticed by others by what and how little they wear, how much makeup and jewelry they wear, how fancy their hair is done, how perfectly decorated their homes are, the cars they drive, how much money they have, how many vacations they go on, sending naked pictures to others, and the list goes on and on. We, as godly Christian women, should do nothing to draw attention to ourselves, including burping, intentionally passing gas, or other actions that are unfeminine and indiscreet. 

In 1 Timothy 2:9 women are told to adorn themselves with shamefacedness which means to be modest and bashful, not showy or extravagant. We should not be flagrant in word or deed and cover our bodies in modesty, not drawing attention to ourselves or body. This is so contrary for most women today. Many do everything they can to be sexy and beautiful and draw attention to themselves no matter what the cost. The gods of our culture have become looks and trying not to age. 

Our nation idolizes self. You can clearly see this by the number of selfies people are taking of themselves and checking often to see how many "likes" they receive. Many young women are even sending naked pictures of themselves to others seeking attention. The Bible states that in the end times, people will be "lovers of themselves." People today are clearly lovers of themselves and have no problem with what they are wearing and doing and how it affects the men in their line of vision.

We should never live this way. Yes, we should look neat and clean but this doesn't take much time if we're not wearing much makeup or fancy clothes. God wants us to adorn ourselves with good works: living in submission to our husbands, loving and training our children, keeping a clean and tidy home for our family, fixing them nourishing food, being hospitable to others, and helping those in need. This should be what we are focused upon instead. 

In all these good works, we should be giving glory and thankfulness to the Lord from whom all blessings flow. When your life is directed towards good works instead of drawing attention to yourself, and harassing men by dressing immodestly, you are storing your treasures in heaven and not drawing undue attention towards yourself. The ones who will appreciate you the most will be your family and those you have helped. This is what pleases the Lord since He cares more about what is on the inside than the outside. However, our actions and what we wear show what is in our heart. 

What are you storing in your heart? Time in the Word and pursuing godliness or flirting with the world and doing whatever you can to draw undue attention to yourself?

In like manner also, that women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with shamefacedness and sobriety; not with broided hair, or gold, or pearls or costly array.
1 Timothy 2:9