Making Right Choices

In Other Words quote for October 19, 2007

We women must realize how visual men are, and because of that we should wear modest clothes. Not because we don’t have the right to wear what we want, but for the benefit of the spiritual life of our brothers in Christ. ~~~Heather Arnel Paulsen. Emotional Purity: An affair of the Heart.

In Paul’s letter to the saints of Ephesus he spoke to them about walking as children of light. He told them not to let any unwholesome talk come out of their mouths, but only what was helpful for the building up of others according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. (Eph 4:29) What Paul had to say is something that needs to be applied to all areas of our lives such as the way we dress, what we do, and the attitude we portray.

The rules of living the world thinks should change for every decade or century we enter has moved away from Paul’s teaching and landed on the thinking that it’s all about me. What’s in it for me? What benefit do I get out of it? I come first. I’m the one with the right to do with my body as I see fit. Dress as I see fit and behave in a way I see fit. Why should I be the one who changes!

That’s not the example that Christ left us to follow. He cared for our spiritual benefit and we should care as well for others, including our brothers in Christ. It definitely is no secret how visual men are, women pretty much know that and they use it to their advantage to attract the opposite sex. I had a lady once tell me about a tattoo she wanted to get on her chest. Her plan was to put it in a certain spot where only part of it would be visible with most of her clothes. To her, she just knew that it would arouse the curiosity of a certain man into wanting to see the unseen portion of her new tattoo.

How peculiar we are thinking we can put out an ad by the way we dress without realizing there are men out there that will answer that ad. When they do we get angry expecting them to be the one to change their behavior instead of us having to change the way we dress. Although there are many behaviors out there that need to be changed the only one we have control over is our own. And dressing accordingly to glorify God not ourselves is one of them.

We don’t need to go around in turtleneck long sleeve sweaters and trousers with hiking boots. There are plenty of attractive professional looking modest clothes to choose from. Grant it, to some men it’s not going to make a difference what we wear they are going to be more visual than they need to be. However, that will be something they will answer to God for not us. All we can do is our part.

What should be attractive to others is what comes from the inside of our hearts not what we wear over our hearts, hips, or toes. We can no more force men to see that than we can force a rebellious teenager to do what they should be doing to be obedient to their parents and God. The bottomline still falls in the same spot in the fact that we only have control over what we do. Whether in words or deeds may it always be for the benefit of not only ourselves but others too in order to glorify God and draw attention to Him.

CLOSING THOUGHT: It’s not about us, no matter how much Satan would like us to believe that it is. True beauty comes from within and that is where our focus needs to be. All we can do is our part showing integrity of doing what is right whether someone is looking or not. Our turn is coming; we will be amongst those who benefit in the end. Whether man or woman the shoes we stand in before Christ on the judgment day will be the ones that we put on by the choices we made in life. Let us make the right choices.

Our host this week is Loni over at Joy in the Morning. Wander on over there and read what others have to say about this weeks quote. Stop and share. We’d love to hear from you.

"Finding JOY in the Morning is giving away the book Emotional Purity: An affair of the Heart. Just for writing about it on your blog and leaving a comment on Loni's quote for this week you can be entered in the drawing. Drawing ends October 30th."