Aug. 13, 2007
Modesty... for Guys
Many people have written about how important it is for young ladies (and older ladies) to be modest. However, no one that I have read has posted about how important it is for gentlemen to be modest as well.
Now I completely agree that it's more of a problem for guys if girls are immodest, and less of a problem for girls if guys are immodest. However, just because it's less of a problem doesn't mean that it isn't a problem!
Many sincere, godly, Christian young men of my acquaintance insist that the girl that they marry should be a modest, godly young lady. This is good. Yet they feel free to walk around with their jeans falling down and no shirts on. Why is that? Why do they hold young ladies to a standard that they're unwilling to hold themselves to? I'm not trying to blame anyone, merely start you thinking.
Seeing any man that is immodest makes any true lady uncomfortable, even more so when they know that the man in question is a Christian.
I remember meeting a family from California last year. We took them to a lake down the road from us and we all went swimming together. It was a wonderful time and my sister and I were perfectly comfortable around them, even though they had several older boys in their family. That night we talked about it and realized that it was because all of the guys in that family had worn swim-shirts so there was no feeling as if we were doing something we shouldn't when we were around them.
After talking to my Dad about it, he and my brother decided to start wearing swim-shirts. They had never thought that it might be a problem not to.
Our family has always been committed to girls and ladies being modest. We buy bathing suits from www.swimmodest.com and you can also purchase swim-shirts for boys there. (Currently they don't have them in men's sizes)
There is a very good book with a rather strange title "Christian Modesty and the Public Undressing of America" by Jeff Pollard that you can read if you are interested in reading more about modesty and swimming.
It is truly disgusting to me to see a respectable young man wearing jeans several sizes to big that seem about to fall off of him at any moment. Almost as bad are the jeans that are so skin tight that he can't bend over. Is this honoring to God? Is this a good witness to Jesus Christ? If Jesus had come in the flesh to this culture, would He have worn such things?
And those jeans are bad enough with a long shirt covering the top. When a young man decides not to wear a shirt, he is simply showing off his underwear to the world. In case you think that this is no big deal, let me tell you that to a Lady it is yucky and gross.
But if someone realizes that he needs to be more modest, he doesn't need to be upset because he has worn things like that in the past. The good news is that if you change your ways, most ladies won't remember that you were ever immodest.
Parents, train your sons as well as your daughters to be modest. Wouldn't you feel terrible if a young lady refused to marry your son with the reason that he was disrespectful in his choice of clothing?
Young Men and Young Ladies, let's try to be a good witness for Jesus Christ by wearing clothing that doesn't draw attention to anything that God would want covered. It's true that God looks at the heart. But people look at the outward appearance. Let's not distract people from Christ by our outward appearance. I'm willing to be modest for Jesus, are you?