Daily Encouragement: What to Wear?

In my last post, I included an excerpt from the book, Girls Gone Wise by Mary Kassian, discussing the purpose for clothing in light of the original sin and its consequences. Today, I want to follow that up with the way we should dress.

I want to give credit where credit is due, and I just love the way Mrs. Kassian lays it all out. So, I'm including another excerpt from Girls Gone Wise to answer the question: "What then shall we wear?"

"Paul tells us in Romans 13:14 to wear Christ. 'Put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires' (italics added). A Christian woman clothes herself with Christ. That's what she wears. That's how she covers herself. That's how she makes herself beautiful. The clothing of Christ is the most important item in her wardrobe. Her external appearance should display, and not deny or distract from, the righteous clothing of Christ that she wears. The visible should point to the invisible. The temporal should point to the external. The symbol should point to the reality. In the final analysis, your clothing is not meant to be about you--it's meant to display deep and profound spiritual truths about the gospel. That's why it's highly important that you wrestle with the practical question of what and what not to wear.

It's not an easy question. Pitfalls exist all around. Sin encourages us to throw off clothing and inhibition, and proudly display our nakedness. It tempts us to exalt external appearance and make clothing our god. It tempts us to deny the importance of appearance and walk around like slobs. It tempts us to become sirens. It tempts us to despise beauty and deny our femininity. It tempts us to slavishly follow contemporary fashion or haughtily spurn it by adopting the fashion of another era. It tempts us to think that clothing is overly important. It tempts us to think it is unimportant. It tempts us to be self-righteous about the way we dress and downright uncharitable toward the way other people dress. It tempts us to sin by remaining quiet and tolerating the flagrant unrighteousness of our sisters. When it comes to clothing and personal appearance, the dangers are many and varied. But Scripture gives us some clear advice on how to navigate our way through this quagmire.

To begin, the Lord wants His girls to be stunningly beautiful. But He repeatedly stresses that a woman's beauty--and her beautification--is something that primarily happens on the inside. 'Do no let your adorning be external...but let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart' (1 Peter 3:4). The heart is where we put on Christ and the clothing of Christ. A wise woman commits more time and energy dressing herself up on the inside than on the outside. She is like the Proverbs 31 woman, who makes strength and dignity 'her clothing' (31:25). The Girl-Gone-Wise puts on the new self (Ephesians 4:24). She puts on compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, patience, forbearance, forgiveness, love (Colossians 3:!2-13). She puts on 'the whole armor of God' (Ephesians 6:11). She puts on a gentle and quiet spirit (1 Peter 3:4). She clothes herself with these garments of Christ, 'so that the shame of [her] nakedness may not be seen' (Revelation 3:18).

Spiritual adornment is the reality. Physical adornment is the symbol of that reality. The external clothing we wear is of secondary importance. But it is important nonetheless. In 1 Timothy 2:9, the Lord provides three critical guidelines that help Christian women figure out what and what not to wear. 'She adorns herself with respectable apparel, with modesty and self-control.' The three guidelines are:

1. Is it becoming or unbecoming? (respectable)
2. Is it decent or indecent? (modest)
3. Is it moderate or excessive? (self-controlled)

The word adorn (Greek: kosmeo) can also be translated as 'to decorate' or 'to beautify.' It means 'to put in order, arrange, make ready.' Elsewhere, Jesus' parable talks about wise bridesmaids 'trimming' (adorning) their lamps--ensuring that they are in good order, properly set up, and ready for the Bridegroom (Matthew 25:7). Women are to adorn their bodies in the same way. The three guide-lines help us ensure that our looks are in good order, properly arranged, and ready to display Christ." (Taken from Girls Gone Wise by Mary Kassian)

Precious sister, I encourage you today to clothe yourself with Christ and consider if your physical covering (your clothing) represents your spiritual covering (Christ) by asking the three questions noted above. Are there any wardrobe changes that should be made, and how will you go about your shopping in the future? Also, I encourage you to put Girls Gone Wise on your summer reading list if you haven't already started!

by Wendie Beddingfield

pic by roberto tostes