Often, by puberty, young ladies are not as physically powerful as their male counterparts, whose muscles tend to develop larger. Yet every female possesses a physical power in her shape and form that can overwhelm or renew a young man. There is power in dressing to be drooled over, but that is an abuse of God’s gift. Modesty has its own delicate power that brings glory to God and no cause for stumbling to men.
The Bible is filled with beautiful women who are acknowledged to possess a gift from God in their physical appearance that we would be foolish to deny. Both her husband and her Egyptian suitors recognized that Sarah was a beautiful woman (see Genesis 12:11-14). Her daughter-in-law, Rebekah, was likewise a beautiful virgin when Isaac first laid eyes on her–it was love at first sight, as they say (see Genesis 24:16, 26:7). Sadly, Leah was not so attractive, but her sister, Rachel was “beautiful of form and appearance” and Jacob was naturally drawn to her (see Genesis 29:17). Abigail was not only of beautiful appearance, but she was also of great understanding (see First Samuel 25:3); unfortunately like too many such women, she had chosen poorly for a husband, Nabal the fool. King Ahasuerus of Persia was too proud of his beautiful wife, Queen Vashti, but eventually replaced her with the stunning Esther of the Israelites. While all these women and others possessed great beauty, we remember them more for their character, and most of them had great character.
We sometimes get the idea that plainness is a virtue in the Bible and that maybe we are sinning by valuing beauty, but even God acknowledges that beauty is one of his gifts. There was attention paid to beauty when the garments were designed for Old Testament priests: “And you shall make holy garments for Aaron, your brother, for glory and for beauty. … And you shall make hats for them, for glory and beauty” (Exodus 28:2, 40). While we recognize the reality and appeal of beauty in the flesh and in our decorations, there is a higher objective that restrains that beauty and places it in perspective. As we approach God and as we go about our business in his sight, it is the “beauty of holiness” that appeals to him, that ought to appeal to us and we hope will hold stronger appeal to others.
“Give to the Lord the glory due his name; Bring an offering, and come before him. Oh, worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness” (First Chronicles 16:29). David writes, “Give unto the Lord the glory due to his name; Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness” (Psalm 29:2). At some point, you have to get past the appeal of high cheekbones, silky hair and an hourglass figure to understand that a righteous lifestyle is what appeals to the one who made you.
Even the plain, the unattractive and the aged can excel in the beauty of holiness that runs deeper than anything on the surface of our bodies. The beauty of holiness is leading a lifestyle that seeks first citizenship in the kingdom of God and puts righteousness defined by Christ ahead of attracting the attention of people who may have less than innocent designs on your beauty.
Easton’s Dictionary defines holiness as belonging “to Christians as consecrated to God’s service, and in so far as they are conformed in all things to the will of God. … Personal holiness is a work of gradual development. It is carried on under many hindrances, hence the frequent admonitions to watchfulness, prayer, and perseverance”
True beauty is going to be an expression, not of physical form, but spiritual determination to conform to the will of God and declare it with whatever gift we possess. Beauty of holiness can and should exist even inside of beauty of form (First Thessalonians 4:3-8). Understand that if you dress in a way that is intended to stir up lust in another person’s heart, you are playing a role in sexual immorality. Fornicators and adulteresses are not much more destructive than the young woman who dresses lewdly or teases licentiously (see Galatians 5:19).
Jesus Christ reserves severe condemnation for people who cause others to stumble and be lost. Some will divorce their mates for no good reason and lead them to fall into adulterous relationships because they cannot bear the loneliness inflicted upon them (see Matthew 19:1-9). Others lead people astray through false doctrine or example (see Matthew 15:14, 23:2-3) and some place temptation before the weak or actually become that temptation themselves (see Matthew 18:5-7).
Most men have a difficult time, especially when they are teenagers and single twenty-somethings, reining in their natural desires for intimate experience. There is a clear admonition against falling into lust, but the Holy Spirit is just as clear when it comes to one purposely or carelessly being the object of that lust by walking in lewdness (see Matthew 5:27-29, Romans 13:11-14). There becomes a precarious balance between holiness and yearning and that balance is threatened by people who put themselves on display and stir up those passions, even if one is only teasing and has no intention of fulfilling them. Job talks about making a covenant with his eyes so that he would not be drawn to look at a young woman and lust (see 31:1). Perhaps the young woman also must make a covenant with her body that it won’t be used to cause men to stumble; she can be beautiful inside and outside without abusing that power.
A Christian professes godliness simply by wearing the savior’s name, but that profession can be wiped out if adorned by lewdness of speech, behavior or attire (First Timothy 2:8-10). Paul writes that young Christian women must be chaste so that the word of God is not blasphemed among doubters and critics (see Titus 2:5). Chastity does not mean that one’s dress must be purposely out of style or colorless like the stereotypical Puritan, but that it conceals the powerful parts of her body and reserves them entirely for her husband. Chastity is purity and must begin in the heart; if your desire is that souls be saved, not seduced, your attire will support that goal, rather than conflict with it.
Some young women defend their immodest, revealing clothing by arguing that it is necessary to attract attention, but think about what kind of boy is likely to be caught that way, versus the one who will be enticed, but who will struggle and turn away because you threaten his convictions. Physical beauty is fleeting and temporary and too much focus on using it seductively will destroy any hope you have of developing an inner beauty of holiness (First Peter 3:3-4). “Charm is deceitful and beauty is passing, but a woman who fears the Lord, she will be praised” (Proverbs 31:30).
Proverbs 11:22 says: “As a ring of gold in a swine’s snout, So is a lovely woman who lacks discretion.” To God and godly men, there is a jarring incongruity to a beautiful girl who puts herself on overt display. The beauty is permanently marred by behavior, speech or attire that isn’t spiritually beautiful. Discretion means a consideration of modesty and purity and understanding that a woman’s skin, curves and convexities suggest things to even the strongest of men. Jesus condemned the hypocrites among him because they were “like whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness” (Matthew 23:27). When you choose immodesty, even if you stand fast against actual fornication, you have marred your beauty before God by abusing it to another’s downfall. Those dead men’s bones are evidence of the souls that lusted for you and became unclean. Purposely or not, you become the objectified image of the evil woman in Proverbs 6:30 that young men are warned about.
Dannah Gresh writes in Secret Keepers: The Delicate Power of Modesty,
What does a guy see when a girl walks by him wearing a long, tight skirt with a slit all the way up the sides? He sees past the fabric, because the slit invites him to finish the picture. This is simple visual science. How do you think this theory works when a girl wearing a tight T-shirt shirt [sic] with her belly bared walks down the street past a guy? Yikes! Because he sees an incomplete picture of her body, he is compelled to complete it. The thrill not of what is seen, but what is yet to be seen is what actually tempts him. His imagination kicks in. (43-44)
Immodest dress–including modern swimsuits, skirts and shorts that reveal the thighs, tops that reveal or just accentuate the chest and skintight clothing–is conformity to the world and its declining ways, but you can and must resist (Romans 12:1-2). There is indeed a delicate power in dressing and behaving modestly, a beauty of holiness that surpasses anything that is physical. How will you wield that power–responsibly or abusively? The answer may well determine the fate of your soul and many who come into contact with you.
Work Cited
- Gresh, Dannah. Secret Keepers: The Delicate Power of Modesty. Chicago: Moody Press, 2002.
