Who's Looking And Who Cares?

With all the thought on whether or not modesty is important it's important to consider what others see in our daily choices. When we do that a familiar scripture comes to mind. It's quite familiar to many of us because we often quote a part of it when something is said about a way a person dresses, or possibly about our own unkempt appearance. We say it quickly in defense, "...the Lord looketh on the heart" (I Samuel 16:7). Yet as we look at the later part of this verse we discover another interesting statement — a special warning that is often overlooked. First, and foremost, God does look at our heart! But the scripture's subordinate truth declares, "Man looketh on the outward appearance...."

"What is meant" John Makujina writes in Measuring the Music, "is that future success is not based on a person's natural endowments — such as physical stature, outward beauty, or talent — but on one's inward desire to serve God.... It has nothing to do with God not being concerned with how a person dresses or what they may signify through their clothing."

It's interesting that Jesus later emphasizes this fact. He said, "But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart" (Matthew 5:28). So, we can be certain of two things: man looks — and God is concerned about the effects of what he sees!

Yet, as Jeff Pollard writes in Christian Modesty and The Undressing of America, "The cry of the Feminists is 'It's my body, and I'll do what I want.' The cry of the modern Evangelical is 'It's my liberty, and I'll do what I want.' Nevertheless, the declaration of Scripture is this: 'What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify your body, and in your spirit, which are God's' (I Corinithians 6:19, 20). You are not your own, if you are a Christian. Your whole being — body and soul — is the purchased property of Jesus Christ; and the price paid for your body was the breaking of His: 'This is my body, which is broken for you' (I Corinthians 11:24; Matthew 26:26). Your body belongs to Him! He redeemed it with His precious blood on the cross of Calvary. How tragic when we fail to consider how He would want us to adorn His blood-bought property."