May. 30, 2009
Church should be a safe haven for our men.
Posted in Life Application of The Word.
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A friend of mine (HI Denise!) brought up a 'hot topic' of discussion the other day, and I would LOVE to give my 2 cents on this. We all know that men are visual. That is just how God created them. And we as women have heard all of the Bible verses on modesty. And we all read God's Word on the issue. But why (walking into a church today) do you still see women in form fitting, short skirts, or tight jeans? Why are our Christian women still wearing two piece bathing suits at Bar B Que's? Why are our teens hanging all over eachother in the parking lot? Why aren't we any different from the World??? Well, here's the verse that God used to speak to me about how I dress. You can read in Job 31:1 that Job had to make a covenant with his eyes to not look on a woman with lust. Why would Job, the most righteous man at the time, have to do this? The truth is that he (like every other man in this world) had to deal with lust. You know before reading this I had all the usual arguments about dressing modestly. Have you heard (or said) any of these? "Well, I'm not responsible for their thoughts!" "I'm just dressing how I feel comfortable, I don't care what they think." "My husband wants me to dress sexy, he says it makes him proud!" "I don't think there is anything wrong with my outfit, Jesus said 'come as I am'!" "They shouldn't be looking at me, they should keep their eyes on Christ." " If they were more spiritual, They wouldn't even be tempted." Do you buy any of this? Or do you say these things, when someone tries to bring up proper attire at church? After reading this verse, I have come to the understanding that EVERY man deals with this issue. Not just the 'perverts'. But lets talk about this for a second. What about the man that has battled addiction to porn all his life? What if he is visiting your church to get his life in order? How can that man concentrate on the worship music with you bouncing around in front of him? Are we dressing in a way that would take a mans eyes off of the Spirit of the Lord, in any way, shape, or form?? I wonder if that man leaves worse off then he came in, whether we will have to answer for that one day? Shouldn't we, as Sisters in the Lord, be helping, not hindering them? Have you noticed how different our clothing looks when we are standing still with arms to our sides, as opposed to when we have our arms up in Worship to The King of Kings, and bouncing to the Praise music. Very different, let me tell you. Try it before leaving the house. Stand in front of the mirror and bounce. Lift your arms. How does that shirt look now? Is it just as modest in that position? Or is it now hugging a few curves that you would prefer everyone not look at? Ok, now I need to make myself clear in that, of course we don't expect young women who JUST met the Lord to dress in a modest fashion... after all God is God and it is HIS job to convict us of our dress/ speech/ whatever. The Bible DOES say to come as you are. And if 'Sexy Susan' came into my service for the first time, I'd be ecstatic to have her there, no matter how she is dressed! So yes, I feel, that we need to have grace and kindness, and love to those that need a new heart, and help them to feel comfortable enough to find it in Jesus. But I also feel that, as time goes on, there needs to be an outward expression of the inward change that God is doing in you. & one way would be to put your brothers ahead of whether or not those jeans make you look 'hot'. We as the 'older women' (spiritually speaking) need to be examples to our new converts in Godly dress and speech. I am talking about the women that have been saved for YEARS and still think as the world thinks. Its simply not fair for Christian women to be a stumbling block to their 'brothers' in Christ. What do you think when you are putting on your clothes in the morning? Do you think 'Will this bring Glory to The King of Kings?' or are you thinking 'Whether my butt looks HOT in this'? Are you saying to yourself "yeah! I love the way this dress shows off my curves!"? Or are you trying to find nice fitting (not too tight not too loose) clothing, that will bring the attention to your countenance.? As is befitting of a Daughter of The Most High God. Look I know it's not easy. Especially these days.. its difficult to find modest clothing.. They simply don't sell them at Wal Mart or Target.  But we have to put others before ourselves.. Can you imagine going to church to get fed, and in turn being susceptible to lust. that just sucks. we can't very well control the world, but at least at church our men should have a safe haven. |
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May. 30, 2009 - Untitled Comment
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Posted by May. 30, 2009 - Untitled Comment
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