Modesty in dressing is becoming a rarity these days. I and my husband attended a recognition ceremony and I was aghast on how ladies were dressed during the event. Only a few were donned on what I would say as modest. Most clothes were body-hugging, and bared more skin than what is proper. Welcome to the 21^st century dressing!

In the school campuses, in the streets, in the malls, there is an impression that women dress primarily to flaunt their sexuality. The feminists may contend that they can dress in whatever manner they want and no one has the right to question them. But they fail to realize that these sensual manner of dressing lead to acts of immorality (in men) and even endanger the women they so claim to protect.

Unfortunately, even in Christian churches, it is quite uneasy to discuss the issue of dressing because it is perceived as legalistic or crossing the bounds of Christian liberty. Even God-fearing women can dress with less (fabric) because they don’t see anything wrong or offensive about it.

When we dress immodestly, we are committing sin because we are attracting attention to ourselves. It is like saying to everyone: “Look at me, how sexy I look in my dress”; “See, how expensive my outfit is”. The worst about immodest dressing is that we are tempting others – especially men – to sin, since men are easily affected by what they see. We are in a way, an accessory to the sin of adultery if because of our provocative outfit, a man’s lust is stirred.

A modest dress is normally “something in the middle”, so as not to attract attention. For instance, modest skirt should not be too long or too short, but just slightly above or below the knee. Neckline should not be too low, so as to reveal the cleavage, nor too high to make us look odd. It should not also be costly which shows extravagance, nor impoverished, lest we let others think that God is not providing for us. We ought to present a good image of ourselves since we are the temple of the Holy Spirit. Christians must glorify God even in the way they dress (Colossians 3:23).

I Tim 2:9 states that the right way to adorn ourselves is by our good works, not by our clothing. When we invest in clothes to adorn ourselves, we are adorning the body which is temporal. But when we do good works, we adorn the spirit which is eternal. Instead of spending hours in combing the department stores for nice-looking blouses, we can think of a way on how we can help the poor Sunday School children in our church, or how we can support a needy sister.

Immodesty is rampant in our days. Following the dress code in I Tim 2:8-9, may seem like we are a drop in a bucket. Yet it is important for us to please God first of all because we are accountable to Him. By our godly examples, we may be setting a standard that others can follow.

Based on TBC Sunday School Class on Modesty, discussed by Pastor Ferdie Facundo, April 28, 2013.