Home At Last--Final word about Modesty

We finally returned home from our trip to the Caribbean for VBS late last night--tired, worn and without luggage--but hey, we slept in our own bed and with air conditioning. Our luggage came this evening about 5:00 and the only mishap was a busted bottle of honey--what a sticky, gooey mess.

We had a fabulous week with the children--we averaged nearly 70 each day--we were only expecting around 50-60, but we managed just fine. I'll have some pictures up later this week.

I've had lots of e-mail to answer and stuff to catch up on today so I've been busy. I did notice a couple of e-mails and comments regarding the letter I posted about modesty and wanted to address those briefly.

The "letter" was one that was passed on to me and was "anonymous". Whether it is even "real" or not I do not know, but I did feel that it made some good points about how we as Christian women should think about how our appearance can affect the men around us. I certainly believe that men have the responsibility of controlling their own thoughts, but I also believe that we as women should not be guilty of placing a stumbling block in another's way either. I believe we can be stumbling blocks to weak, Christian men when we are guilty of dressing immodestly and we too must take responsibility for our actions. Paul says in Romans 14:21, "It is good neither to eat meat nor drink wine nor do anything by which your brother stumbles or is offended or is made weak." (NKJV) In verse 19 of this same chapter, he tells us to "pursue the things which make for peace and the things by which one may edify another."

It is very much my responsibility as a Christian woman to make sure I am not the cause of my brother lusting after me. If I am careful to dress modestly and behave appropriately around those of the opposite sex and they still continue in their lust, then certainly, I have no control over that. On the other hand, if I am guilty of dressing in such a way as to incite lust in a man, God will hold him accountable, but He will not hold me guiltless. I believe that to be the point of the letter and certainly my point in posting it.

Often times we do not "think" about how we may appear to others and yet isn't that what Paul is addressing when he tells Titus that the older women are to teach the younger women to be "chaste"? The Greek word translated "chaste" here has the idea of being "modest" according to Strong's. We are to be chaste or modest and we need to "think" about how we appear to men. But not only is our dress to be chaste, so is our conduct to be chaste. (1 Pet. 3:2) The very way that we behave must be one of modesty--how we sit, how we walk, how we bend over. Sisters, each of us has a responsibility and obligation to our brothers that we not be guilty of causing them to lust after us. We cannot control their actions, but we better not be guilty of tempting them.

Dana Burk