Do you ever wear pants? Can you cut your hair? Can you wear makeup? Why don't you wear jewelry? Never ending questions, day after day after day they ask with curiosity and sometimes scorn. And day after day my answers surprise them when I tell them yes I can wear pants, jewelry or make up and yes I can cut my hair. They often laugh when I tell them I can but I choose not too as they assume I'm simply brainwashed into believing it's my own choice. I can do any thing they might ask I am after all physically capable of doing so however out of love for my King I choose not to. It's all a choice. The real question is why I make that choice.
Why? That's the question I love to answer. Ask me why I do or don't do anything with regard to modesty or holiness and the answer is always the same. I love Jesus and so I choose to dress or act in ways that show my love for Him. You see, we are the Bride of Christ (Ephesians 5:25-27) and when a bride loves her husband it is her desire to please him. On that most basic level it is my desire that Jesus be pleased with me and so I live and dress in a way that I hope will be pleasing to Him. Holiness is an outward expression of my inward love for Jesus. It's an expression of my desire to please Him and furthermore to be like Him.
There's an interesting phenomenon that occurs when a couple has been together for long enough. The more time they spend together the more alike they become. I rememberwhen I was dating my first boyfriend I started picking up habits and likes and dislikes from him. For a simple example I used to hate sausage pizza. After a while though his favorite became my favorite and I still like sausage pizza years later. The same is true with our relationship with Christ. The more time we spend together the more alike we become. Our likes and dislikes become the same. Our desires become the same. We become alike.
However there is a key difference in this relationship. In my relationship with Christ only one of us can change and that's me. In Malachi 3:6 He declared that He is The Lord and He changes not! Scripture is clear that He is the same yesterday, today and forever. So if He does not change and is always the same then there is only one way that we can become alike. I have to be the one that changes. I have to become like Him. For us to be like a long married couple becoming alike over time then I must change. I must become like Him. And if I am going to be like Him then I must know what He is like.
There are many good words that can be used to describe The Lord: loving, powerful, wonderful, omniscient, the list could go on for all eternity. However there is one trait that stands out. The angels cry out one word to describe Him: holy. Of all the things God is his holiness is one of the most oft mentioned. The angels cry out "holy, holy, holy" and as Sproul put it “The Bible says that God is holy, holy, holy. Not that He is merely holy, or even holy, holy. He is holy, holy, holy. The Bible never says that God is love, love, love, or mercy, mercy, mercy, or wrath, wrath, wrath, or justice, justice, justice. It does say that He is holy, holy, holy, the whole earth is full of His glory.” And so if I'm going to become like Him that means I must become holy. In His word He even tells to be "holy for [He] is holy" (1 Peter 1:15). So the more time I spend with Him, and the more like Him I become then the more holy I become.
And so because I love Him I do what I know will please Him. Because I love Him I spend time with Him. And when I spend time with Him I become like Him. And to be like Him is to be holy, to act holy, and to live holy. I don't dress like I do because of rules. I don't dress like I do or act like I do because a man told me to. And contrary to one popular opinion I don't dress like I do to protect the men from their own lustful ways (another post for another day). I dress and act like I do because I love Jesus and I want to please Him and be like Him. "I am my beloved's and my beloved is mine" (Song of Solomon 3:6) and I want to make my Beloved happy and I want to be like Hm. And so I do all things, not even just the outwardly obvious things like clothing, with a desire to please Him because I love Him. So when you want to know why I do something there is a simple one word answer: LOVE.
This was written as an answer to an assignment by my pastor to the young people and college and career as part of a series he is teaching. To listen to that series or any other sermon from our church click here. If you attend my church and have read this whole thing I apologize as you'll be hearing it again on Wednesday night.
