FOR GLORY AND BEAUTY

 

The Proverbs 31 woman was dressed beautifully in “fine linen and purple.” When Sarah went down to Egypt, the Pharaoh of Egypt noticed her and brought her to his harem (she would have been clothed in garments suited to royalty). When God designed the clothes for the high priest, He said “Thou shalt make holy garments for Aaron thy brother for glory and for beauty” (Exodus 28:2).

 

God wants us to dress for GLORY and for BEAUTY. God delights in beauty. “God has made everything beautiful in its time” (Ecclesiastes 3:11). He created us for His pleasure (Revelation 4:11) and I am sure He loves us to look glorious and beautiful. He clothes His animal creation with beauty and color. He creates trees and flowers with glory and color. How much more His highest creation of male and female?

 

However, did you notice the other word God used about clothing? He said: “You are to make HOLY garments.” In other words, we must make sure we are covered. When Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden of Eden, they became aware they were naked and sewed fig leaves together to cover themselves. But they weren’t fully covered. So God came, shed the blood of an animal, and made them “coats of skins, and CLOTHED them” (Genesis 3:21). God was the first clothes designer.

 

The word “coats” is the Hebrew word “kethoneth” and means “a robe, to cover (generally with sleeves and coming down to the knees).” It comes from the root word “katheph” which means “from the shoulder, the upper end of the arm from where the garment hangs.” In other words, the garment is from the shoulders down. No bare shoulders! This is the first time God speaks about clothing and “the law of the first mention” is considered very important in Bible study.

 

In Mark 5:1-15 we read the story of how Jesus delivered the man who was possessed with a legion of devils. After Jesus delivered him, the Bible says the people found him “sitting, and CLOTHED, and in his right mind.”

 

I am troubled by the immodesty among God’s women today. It’s nearly impossible to go into the doors of a church without confronting cleavage! I beg your pardon? Are we going to a secular function or the house of God? Didn’t Jesus die, shed His blood, and give His life for the church to SANCTIFY and CLEANSE her (Ephesians 5:25-27)? The word “sanctify” means “to make holy, to set apart from the world.”

 

I know that many do it ignorantly because they follow what everyone else is doing, and because no one says anything about it!

 

Sometimes the cleavage is bold; in others it is borderline. Not too much, but just a little showing? God’s people should never be borderline! Never compromise! Never sit on the fence! We are either one thing or the other. James 4:4 clearly states that if we are friends with the world, we are an enemy of God. We should always lift the standard high.

 

I am also saddened by many Christian women who publish pictures of themselves on social media, showing cleavage and dressed immodestly. And worse still. So many other Christian women LIKE it! Help! Do they love to see fellow believers showing themselves off? Or do they have no godly standard at all? Or are they so conditioned to immodesty that they don’t even notice it? When we LIKE something on Facebook, we affirm we agree with it. And everybody sees we like it!

 

I am also saddened by many Christian movies that bring a wonderful message of truth and the gospel of Jesus Christ, and yet some of the actors are often dressed immodestly. It makes a double standard.

 

Forgive me for my little rave, but we each have a responsibility to keep each other in line, don’t we? We are our “brother’s keeper.”

 

Can I end on a positive note? Let’s dress for GLORY and BEAUTY. I often fall down on this one, especially around home! This doesn’t mean we have to have expensive clothes. You can make anything beautiful. And you make something beautiful even from a second-hand shop.

 

Each year, our family and friends celebrate BREEZY’S BALL. Breezy is our granddaughter, Serene’s daughter. We began this when Breeze was only four years old. She always loved to dress like a princess and so Serene decided to have a Ball for her party where all the children and ladies could dress up like princesses and the men like princes or warriors! It was such an amazing event that we have made it an annual tradition. She is now 13 years old, and we are still continuing the tradition!

 

All the family arrive in their beautiful dresses, but no one spends much money. They beg, borrow, or transform something from Goodwill into something lovely and everyone looks amazing!

 

Make modesty beautiful! Drab and boring is not biblical.

 

Have a wonderful day,

 

Nancy Campbell

 

 

Painting by Susan Rios