Let's Talk | Modesty Is Not An End

Family worship is an end, and not a means. But the blessings are many. Grateful for this special time with my family.

� R.C. Sproul Jr. (@rcsprouljr) August 20, 2014

The first half of this simple tweet struck me when I read it. How many things in life do we treat as "be-all end-alls" that really are not something we should hold up so high? Since this blog is Fresh Modesty I'd like to explore how really, modesty is not an end unto itself, but rather a means to an end.

Unlike worship, corporate, family, informal, etc, modesty is not our purpose. We were not created in the beginning "to wear clothes and look fabulous forever". No, we were created without clothes, to glorify God and enjoy Him forever. God's desire is that we walk with Him and take dominion over the earth He gave us, even still after the fall.

I'm not going to say that modesty isn't important, but I do want to be careful that I don't create a god out of it in my life so that my purpose gets off-track.

Dressing modestly because your heart has been walking with God is honoring to Him.
Dressing modestly because it's what the cool Christians are doing is not.

Revamping your wardrobe to cultivate a more beautiful appearance is honoring to Him.
Revamping your wardrobe to make sure you put your best-designer foot forward to be seen as hip is not.

Modesty is just one of the thousands of ways we can honor the Lord. It is one that has a lot of great side effects and a lot of weight with it, but nonetheless, it is not an end unto itself. It's simply a means to the end of glorifying God.

You see, I share here not because I feel like modesty is the key to an awesome Christian life. I don't think it is something we should judge each other over. I don't think it is even something that we should confront  newborn Christians about. It's a wonderful thing, but it's not the most wonderful thing. I really don't want to lose sight of that in the hubbub of figuring out if a hemline is long enough.

The hope of Fresh Modesty is that I can show ways to turn what we think is a big thing into a little thing, so that we can focus on the biggest things. Basically, I want to equip and inspire you to effortlessly clothe yourself in a beautiful, God-honoring way so that you are able to put time, resources, and energy into the things that really matter.

This is one of the reasons that practicality has always been one of the criteria for this blog. Girls, if we can't further Christ's kingdom in what we're wearing, something's gotta change. Let's keep modesty in it's place and remember that it's just a means.