So today I want to touch on a topic that can be really touchy in the Seventh Day Adventist world; Modesty.

One of the biggest traps that the world has for girls is fast fashion, and the compulsion to please the world by appearance. This is particularly applicable to girls who have worldly friends, or have a tenancy to want to please by looks. These girls hope to get so close to the world's standard, that the line of division can hardly be distinguished. They feel that to be accepted by their peers if of the utmost importance and that if they are just like the world, then life will fare better for them than if they complied wholly to biblical principles.

The other trap that Satan has in store for girls is the idea that complete and anti-worldly modesty is in some way a salvation matter. These girls feel that their outward appearance should be totally different to what fashion and society says is good to wear. They feel that if they reject everything that the world says on what looks nice and what is accepted, then their lives will be made holy by that outward appearance. They try to comply with biblical principals, but when they see that one or more of those principles are used by the world, they discard it or distort it to fit what they think should be written. (Both examples are in extreme cases)

Here are some photos of the imbalances of both traps:

As you can see, an imbalance of either type is not in keeping with God's plan for us.

If we can live our lives in keeping with God's will, then a balance between the two sides of imbalance is what our convictions will lead us to. 

1 Timothy 2:9,10 'In like manner also, that women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with shamefacedness and sobriety; not with broidered hair, or gold, or pearls, or costly array; but (which becometh women professing godliness) with good works.' This verse means that our dress should reflect our humility in the love of Christ. We should not be trying to become like the world but we should also be trying to make sure we are not making our modesty a point of pride. Our aim should to become as alike to Christ as we can, this means that becoming gazing stocks or worldly is not in keeping to the plan. 

Let's end with a word from Sister White:

As Counselor, Companion, and Co-Worker - Woman, if she wisely improves her time and her faculties, relying upon God for wisdom and strength, may stand on an equality with her husband as adviser, counselor, companion, and co-worker, and yet lose none of her womanly grace or modesty. She may elevate her own character, and just as she does this she is elevating and ennobling the characters of her family, and exerting a powerful though unconscious influence upon others around her.

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