Modesty Part 1: Matters of the Heart

     This past summer I was reading a blog and the issue of modesty came up. Now when people talk about modesty a lot of times people have an imbalanced approach to the subject. A lot of times people talk about modesty but fail to talk about the heart. Ultimately it's not the outside of a person that matters but what goes on in the heart.
     When we see a girl walking around with a bare midriff we have a tendency to judge her outward appearance but we know nothing of this girl! When we see these girls and women walking around on the streets our hearts should go out to them and we should be concerned with where they are going to be spending eternity. Will it be in eternal punishment or in eternal joy with our Lord and Savior?
     This should be our first and primary concern for people. Are we all called to spread the gospel? Yes, we are according to Matthew 28:19,20.
     A lot of judgement went around recently for Miley Cyrus' twerking display that she gave at the VMA's. (She also got a lot of applause too for what she did but that just shows you how sick with sin this world is).
     This poor girl is looking to be fulfilled and she will do anything in her power to get that fulfillment. If girls do not have the transforming power of Christ in them then they are just another Miley Cyrus, just another girl looking to be fulfilled. Looking to feel like she's got it, the attention, the money, the friends, the connections, whatever they perceive it takes to get that is what these girls are living for.
     Until we give them a reason to be modest we can't introduce (or force) our ideas of modesty on someone who isn't saved. It just won't work.
     If they respect you and your position they may change on the outside but the inside remains the same. They still have a heart that desires the things of the flesh. To put it in perspective, they still are dressing immodestly on the inside even if the outside meets your standards of modesty.
     Maybe they will reject Christ when you share your faith with them. That's ok. It's not your job to convert them but to give them the gospel. God may be using you to prepare them to receive the gospel in the future. You don't know what the future holds so its better to have given them the gospel and have them reject it now then to have never given them the gospel and have them die never having been told of who Jesus is.
     We had a woman who came to our church for a little while who I don't believe was saved. She wore things that most people might consider inappropriate. We loved her and did what we could to help her feel welcomed in our fellowship.
     Eventually, for many complicated reasons, she left. Years later my mom asked my dad if he remembered anything of what she wore and he honestly answered that no, he did not remember. His primary concern for her was her heart. Was it captivated by Christ or by the things of this world?
     Now my dad is a sinner just like any other man but when your heart is captivated by Christ and you are pursuing a relationship with Him then it's possible for you to care so much for someone else's eternal state that everything else doesn't matter. This I believe is where my dad was (and by the grace of God still is) when God brought this woman into our fellowship.
     When talking about modesty I think it's important for us to first be concerned with the heart of a person. Is it one that has already been transformed by Christ? If not their salvation should be our primary concern. After that its a little easier to deal with what it is exactly.
To be continued.....