Daily Devotions
Modesty & the Gospel
Reading for August 25th: Jeremiah 46-48
Weekly reading for August 23-29: 1 Timothy 1-6
...likewise also that the women should adorn themselves in respectable apparel, with modesty and self-control, not with braided hair and gold or pearls or costly attire, but with what is proper for women who profess godliness--with good works.
1 Timothy 2:9-10
More than hemlines and measurements of how revealing clothing should be, this passage is about the heart. Paul reasons that if the heart is right, what we choose to wear will take care of itself. The key words in the text are "modesty" and "self-control." A woman's attire will be a reflection of a heart ruled by these two attitudes.
But from where do these attitudes of modesty and self-control come? It is the gospel of Christ. When one obeys the gospel of Christ, there is a shift that takes place in both perspective and attitude. The perspective shifts from earthly glory to heavenly. The attitude changes from pleasing self to glorifying God. The gospel redefines everything about us. This change in identity quite naturally leads to a change in wardrobe.
So what does your dress say about your heart? Is your heart constrained by modesty and self-control? Does your wardrobe reflect a desire to glorify self or God? Are you professing worldliness by your dress or godliness?
Father, transform our thinking by the power of your love in the gospel, so that our motive in all we do will be to glorify you and you alone.
