Summer Apparel

Someone has described today’s summer apparel in three words: SLIGHT, TIGHT, BRIGHT. It is appalling how little some people wear. The Bible demands modest apparel! According to Webster’s Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary, modest means “observing the proprieties of dress and behavior; decent.” Immodesty may come from wearing too little or too much. Modesty demands that we dress in such a way that we do not attract undue attention. In the first century the problem was one of wearing too much. Then the emphasis was on gold, pearls and costly clothes (1 Timothy 2:9, 10). Today the problem is one of wearing too little. Now the emphasis is on flaunting the body. Both extremes are wrong.

Peter urged his readers to concentrate on the inner man, not on the body. The emphasis was to be on “the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price” (1 Peter 3:4). Real beauty lies within! Those who expose themselves in revealing attire, reveal much more than their near naked bodies, they also reveal a lack of self-respect and inner beauty.

At one time a man who hid behind a woman’s skirt was called a coward, but today he is often referred to as a magician. There is more cotton in an aspirin bottle than in some of the outfits worn in public these days.

There is an interesting story in the gospel of Luke regarding a certain man possessed of demons. Among the peculiarities of this man was the fact that he wore no clothes (Luke 8:27). As Jesus often did, he cast the demons out. The community, hearing what had been done, went out to see him. They found the man “clothed, and in his right mind” (Luke 8:35). I believe it is significant that in his right mind he was clothed. No one, in their right mind, would consider disrobing in public.

Try to remember this story as you shop for your summer fashions. Remember, as a Christian, we must represent Christ well wherever we are.