“We women must realize how visual men are, and because of that we should wear modest clothes. Not because we don’t have the right to wear what we want, but for the benefit of the spiritual life of our brothers in Christ.”
~ Heather Arnel Paulsen ~
Emotional Purity: An Affair of the Heart
There are so many directions I could take this quote, but I’ll try to keep my thoughts reined in. Modesty is an issue that should be front and center for all Christian women. In today’s culture we can’t even go to our places of worship without seeing more of women’s bodies than any of us need or even want to see.
The part of this quote that jumped out at me first was the name of the publication: Emotional Purity. I like that. Emotional purity begins in the mind—is a choice, a decision. A commitment. My mother taught me to be modest—to dress modestly, to handle my body modestly. My father taught me to be emotionally pure by changing the channel when, in a movie, a woman was talking to a man in her slip. As a child, I didn’t understand that. NOW I get it. Emotional purity. Abstain from all appearance of evil. Modesty was practiced in our home, which gave a dignity to our family and a respect for each other.
I stopped shopping at J.C. Penney after an incident when my husband and I were helped by a very immodest clerk. I could not understand how the management allowed this representative of their company to dress in such a manner. Obviously there was no dress code. As Christian women, we are representatives of our God. We need to remember Who we represent, dressing modestly to please Him, and not turning people away from our witness, whether male or female. I believe that we should follow God’s Word by presenting our bodies as a living sacrifice. I don’t see the words “if you want to” in there anywhere.
Today, many Christian woman look like the world. Christ has called us to be transformed by the renewing of our minds. He has also challenged us by reminding us that we are not of this world but are set apart. I believe it is the Christian woman’s responsibility to put a stop to displays of immodesty and to teach our children to be “emotionally pure.” The teacher has to set the example or there is no lesson learned.
Visit Joy in the Morning to read her take on the quote
along with the other participants.
Our hostess, Loni, will be giving away a copy of the book that contained this week’s quote. Be sure to stop by Joy in the Morning and sign up for your chance to win. Thank you, Loni!
Thank you all for stopping by and reading my contribution to IOW. I have left comments on most of yours as well. It is a blessing to read all the different perspectives on the same topic. I plan to see you all again soon. Blessings!
I agree that there is a modesty problem among christians. However, I think we need to be very careful in addressing it. I believe that as God transforms his children on the inside then their will be noticable outward changes. We need to be careful not to judge people by their outward appearance alone, when God is cleary more concerned with their heart.
I like the way my mom recently handled a similar situation in their church. That had a bunch of young teens coming to the church who are new believers. The girls dressed very immodestly, and had other purity issues to go along with it. So my mother started a group called “For Girls Only” They studied what God’s word says about purity and modesty and being a woman after God’s own heart. They didn’t say a single word to any of the girls about the clothes they wore. The girls were shown the love of God where they were without being expected to change, but the Word of God does not come back void, and the girls have started making subtle changes in their dress on their own.
Cheryl, I came by yesterday but didn’t have time to comment—I so wish I had been more diligent about protecting my children’s sensory overload when they were younger. I thought I was such a “cool” mom letting them watch things such as Roseanne and rated PG movies when they were too young. What a difference it would have made, I’ll never know, but with God’s grace, I think they’re good kids. And I believe it starts with ourselves alright. Beautiful writing my friend.
Thank you so much for sharing. It brought even more thoughts to mind I wished I had written about! We too have our children change the TV channel when the inappopriate scenes or lack of clothing OFF! When we get magazines in the house, if they are not Christian, we go through and rip out the pages that are not decent. Can we be too careful?
Thanks so much for sharing. If you’d like to be a part of the book drawing, be sure to mention it on your blog!
another AMEN from this corner…’in the world and not of it.’
beautiful!
lori
Thanks for bringing in Rom 12 to bear on the issue. We are not eager to be reminded that the life of the follower of Christ is a life of self-sacrifice. This means giving up “rights” we believe we are entitled to.
Absolutely.
Beautiful post! Bless you.
“I believe that we should follow God’s Word by presenting our bodies as a living sacrifice. I don’t see the words “if you want to†in there anywhere.”
AMEN!!!! There truly isn’t any room for “I want” in it. GREAT post!