A Rebellion Against Immodesty

“For you have been called to live in freedom, my brothers and sisters. But don’t use your freedom to satisfy your sinful nature. Instead, use your freedom to serve one another in love.” – Galatians 5:13 NLT

I can hardly buy clothes for my kids…short shorts, bikinis, dresses with cut out backs. It’s certainly as hard to find anything for myself. I used to shop somewhere that was mostly modest and professional but the last I looked I could hardly even recognize the store. There wasn’t one neckline that wasn’t plunging, one dress without missing pieces, or shorts that weren’t either much too short or much too tight. 

I know the subject of modesty has often strayed into legalism. This doesn’t mean we should abandon it altogether in a rebellion against legalism; there is no logic there. If a thing is wrong, it’s wrong even if others have had a poor way of dealing with it. It doesn’t make modesty an unworthy pursuit.

God created man to be greatly affected by the sight of a woman’s body; it was His good design! What joy Adam must have felt when he exclaimed, “This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman…” (Genesis 3:23). Women, our brains are not the same as our counterpart. We can’t comprehend our effect on a man but we are aware of it, aren’t we? We know what turns heads and makes eyes linger. I can’t remember where I first read this, but when I did, it impacted me greatly and I understood the meaning right away: The lust of a woman is to be lusted after.

Now, a man is not excused from having self-control and doing the right and honorable thing of making a “covenant with his eyes” not to look lustfully at a woman as Job did (Job 31:1). He cannot put it all on women to “cover-up” so he’s not tempted. No, but we can’t swing to the other end of the spectrum either saying I’m going to wear hardly any clothes and then scoff at the sinner who gives me a second glance.

“So let’s stop condemning each other. Decide instead to live in such a way that you will not cause another believer to stumble and fall.” – Romans 14:13 NLT

Set Apart

The Israelites, following their exodus from Egypt, were called be holy; a nation set apart for God, different from the surrounding pagan nations. We too, Christians, after being led out of our bondage to sin and into freedom, are called to be holy and set apart to God. Onlooking people should notice that we’re different from the world around us. Yes, by our love they’ll know we belong to Christ, but isn’t the way we dress an outflow of our love? Is it loving to dress in a way that makes another stumble in lust? What about treating others as we want to be treated? Should we enjoy the lingering eyes of another woman’s husband?

“This is the way of an adulteress: she eats and wipes her mouth and says, ‘I have done no wrong.'” – Proverbs 30:20

The desire to be desired is known well to us women. Some gauge their worth by it. I just finished reading C.S. Lewis’ The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, and there’s a scene where Lucy is looking, much too long, at a spell in a book of magic to make her the most beautiful of all women¹. And her heart was tempted. We need to know in our hearts and teach our daughters that our beauty is not our own. Just like everything else we have, it was given by God, and with a purpose. Not to be used for evil but a treasure reserved for our husbands (or future husbands).

“But you thought your fame and beauty were your own. So you gave yourself as a prostitute to every man who came along. Your beauty was theirs for the asking.” – Ezekiel 16:15

Ellizabeth Elliot stated in her book Passion and Purity, that “By trying to grab fulfillment everywhere, we find it nowhere.”² Let us be content with the attention of our Lord and our husbands and encourage our daughters to save this treasure for their future husbands. Only there, within the bounds of marriage, our sexuality is the great treasure that God created it to be.

Before we walk out of the house, let’s commit our dress to the Lord, an offering, and be at peace in our own hearts about doing what is right. There is no universal dress code, just each woman putting these decisions before Christ—I’m sure the results will vary but I’m also sure it won’t involve being practically naked. Undoubtedly, many will think us strange.

“They are surprised that you do not join them in their reckless, wild living, and they heap abuse on you. But they will have to give account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead.” – 1 Peter 4:4

One last thing, when I first started going to church, I didn’t understand all of this the way that I do now. And I noticed that some women in church tended to stay away from me. It was hurtful, but it also got the point across when I saw their eyes going over my clothes (or lack thereof). Now when I see another woman dressed in a way that doesn’t align with my convictions, I remember Romans 14:4:

“Who are you to judge someone else’s servant? To their own master, servants stand or fall. And they will stand, for the Lord is able to make them stand.”

1. Lewis, C. S. The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. HarperCollins, 1952.
2. Elliot, Elisabeth. Passion and Purity: Learning to Bring Your Love Life Under Christ’s Control. Revell, 2025, p. 19.

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