Sisters, late last summer I wrote a week series of Victory Call's on modest dress and sexual purity. Of all the VC's I have written I recieved more positive comments on that series than any other. I have tweaked them a bit and am running them again this week as we move into the summer with Memorial Day today.
The Law of Love I
"You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love." Galatians 5:13
Warning!!! This week's devotionals are on modesty and sexual purity and are written with frankness and forthrightness. I apologize in advance if my frankness offends anyone. I would not do this if it wasn't a burden on my heart that I think God's wants His daughters to hear. I hope my mother is not reading these!
It's that time of year again, when the weather is hot and humid. For some of you this writing will draw a nod of the head, for others, I'm afraid I'm going to step on your toes. I am going to be bold today, bolder than usual that is.
It is time for Christian women to take a stand with regard to our dress. Hear me clearly; I'm not talking about being dowdy, unstylish or puritanical in our dress. I'm talking about just plain modesty. There are parts of a woman's body that need to be covered, plain and simple. A woman's breasts need to be modestly covered, front, middle and sides. Modestly covered does not mean with see through fabric, tight fitting or exposing the bra underneath. A woman's pubic area, upper thighs, mid-drift and buttocks need to be covered. I'm nervous about being so pointed but I've long since learned forthrightness and frankness minimizes misunderstanding.
I have worked at America's Keswick for almost 7 years. I have had my eyes opened to the sinful struggle of men and women, both which could be qualified as lust. I would venture a guess that the majority of calls I get from women relate to this issue of lust. It may manifest itself in ogling which means: to eye amorously or provocatively or to look at especially with greedy or interested attention (Merriam-Webster On-line Dictionary) or it may involve pornography, infidelity or inappropriate emotional ties. Statistics show that men are the primary offenders regarding the use of internet pornography sites, but there are a growing number of women falling into the same sinful trap. I did some research on-line to get some statistics regarding this problem - I was amazed. This is what I found: 28% of visitors to pornography sites are female, 1 or 3 visitors to all adult web sites are women, women, far more than men, are likely to act out their behaviors in real life, such as having multiple partners, casual sex or affairs, 9.4 million women access adult web sites each month.1 Thirty-four percent of female readers of Today's Christian Women's online newsletter admitted to intentionally accessing Internet porn in a recent poll.2
I think you have had enough frankness for today, but we are not done yet. There is much more to be said this week. I will explain through the week, how our verse relates to this topic.
Your challenge for today is to ask God if there is any outfits in your closet that HE would like you to get rid of. If you're courageous enough, ask your spouse or a close friend for an honest evaluation of how you dress.
Diane
1 http://www.familysafemedia.com/pronography_statistics.html accessed 4/28/06
2 http://www.blazingfrace.org/pornstatistics.html accessed 4/28/06
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