Modesty and Attractiveness

Our beautiful mother!

Dressing modestly and looking lovely don't always go hand in hand. Why not? Some Christians seem to think to fulfill being chaste and modest we also need to look sloppy, untidy, or wear very unattractive clothes. Looking beautiful or pretty is equated with pride almost immediately.

It does say in the Bible that man looks at the outside, but God looks at the heart. Very true. I am required as a Christian to follow God's example and love others in spite of what I think I see on the outside. However, this scripture does prove a point. People do look at what you wear and form an opinion of you based on what they see. Why? Because they aren't God, and unless they are walking with perfect hearts of charity, they won't see what's in your heart first, they will see what you show them.

With that in mind I think the following article is worth reading. This is a good reminder: don't keep people's attention focused on you, it's not about you, it's about Christ. You are representing Him and people will take a look at the Christian you are. How you talk, how you treat others, and yes how you dress.

From Jennifer Allen

Modesty and Attractiveness

By Mrs. Eva H.

You should not judge a book by its cover. That is true. And if you have time in the library to browse and read the back flap or half a chapter, you will often come home with an amazing book even though the cover didn’t really promise much. But how often do you have time for all that? Between children, household, work, family, hobbies… quite often we run in and out of the library in fifteen minutes and we have to content ourselves with first impressions. After a while you even become very good at this. You know what styles of illustrations probably promise a great read, or what kind of font is often used just to draw attention to a cheap sensationalist piece of non fiction. Now and again we have pleasant or unpleasant surprises, but, in general, we know what we get. After all, a scientific work will not often have a full-colour shot of playing children against the background of a wheat field on it, a family novel will rarely have a shiny black dust jacket with blood drops over the title.

In the same way, people who do not have the time to truly get to know us and be surprised by our personality must judge us by what they see–the woman we pass in the grocery store, the librarian, the people we meet on the street. While it is true that beauty starts on the inside, the way we present ourselves shows that we care about the feelings of others who meet us. We should not explicitly dress to get attention to ourselves, but it is a thoughtful gesture to present ourselves with the beauty with which the Lord has endowed us undimmed by sloppiness or carelessness.

Modesty is very important to me. And yet few people would look at me on the street and immediately have it pop into their mind “Oh my, she dresses modestly.” If we make a feature of our modesty that attracts attention, can we call it modesty? Or does it become a way to show the world how “holy” we are?

Many people cringe when they hear the word modesty, because it is often associated with unattractiveness. And as daughters of the King, we are certainly not called to unattractiveness. He created us as women and wants us to celebrate that beauty and to adorn our temples–just not in a way that they incite lust in others. There often is confusion about the word “attractiveness” Should we dress attractively? My answer is a resounding “yes.”

Go Here to read the rest of this excellent article.