On Modesty and Purity

Before posting the photo I had my doubts. Within minutes of posting it, I regretted it. As I left it there, the feeling inside of me to delete it just kept growing. As the day went on I just kept on feeling the need to reassess, get another opinion…

See, it wasn’t taken with the intent of being ‘sexy.’ I wasn’t posting it with the intent of getting attention – and yet, I got attention. Within minutes I was getting likes from males I barely know, and friend requests from guys I actually don’t know. I think the whole thing made me think about purity & modesty once again.

It’s easy in this world to let standards slide. It’s easy in this culture to just sink into it all – and wear whatever I want to because I can. And yet – I’m not comfortable with that, and never have been. If people are going to call me beautiful, or find me attractive – I want it to be for the right things. I want it to be for my heart – for the way I love and live. I want it to be for the way my eyes light up when I’m talking about things I’m passionate about. I want it to be for the way I try to honour God with every area of my life. I want to be beautiful because of the way my God loves me – and shows me grace when I stuff things up.

Because if I’m being honest, then I’ll admit – at times I do want the attention. And at times I will try to dress and do my makeup in ways that get me that. And when it all leaves me feeling empty and not good enough – my God is still there with arms wide open and grace in His eyes.

There are also the times where I just don’t think about what I’m wearing. There are times I don’t realise how a certain way I look can be taken in ways I don’t want it to. And in those moments – there is still Grace.

I don’t believe in dressing modestly just because it’s the religious thing to do. I don’t believe in following a strict set of rules when it comes to modesty. But I do believe modesty is an attitude and a behavior that is glorifying to God – and so that’s how I wanna live. That’s who I wanna be. I’m not always going to get it right, but I’m going to keep trying.

“Don’t let anyone belittle you because you are young. Instead, show the faithful, young and old, an example of how to live: set the standard for how to talk, act, love, and be faithful and pure.” – 1 Timothy 4:12