Define modesty

photo © Michael Jastremski for openphoto.net CC:Attribution-ShareAlike


Now, I'm not what they call a Bible-believing Christian, even though I do believe in God and the Holy Spirit, but I think that Richard here has a good point.

1 Peter 3:3-4 Do not let your adorning be external—the braiding of hair, the wearing of gold, or the putting on of clothing— but let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God's sight is very precious.

The inspired words of scripture here use such techniques to help keep us on track. Peter says, "Do not let your adorning be external." He then ensures the reader's understanding by giving some examples: "the braiding of hair, the wearing of gold, or the putting on of clothing." He then continues the clarification with an opposite parallel: "but let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit." Quite clearly this passage is not encouraging women to be careful that they cover themselves appropriately with clothing. It is in fact saying that this should not be their primary focus.

You can read the rest here.

Oh, and going on about your clothing is not the only thing. I think it can also apply to focusing on how little you eat, how much you work out, how sick you and/or your children are and what you're doing to your house. As well as a number of other things I'm sure a lot of people could list.

You go to work in a soup kitchen with your kids. Do you come home and blog about how you and your daughters worked in a soup kitchen in a skirt instead of jeans, and how awful all those women looked in pants? Blog about how you only ate 4 grams of carbs and walked 2.86 miles to get there and back, burning some trace amount of calories? About how you were so upset because someone left a jar of peanut butter in there where your sensitive son may have sniffed it? About how you want that kind of a professional quality stove in your kitchen?

Or do you say you worked in a soup kitchen today?

Or do you work in the kitchen, and then come home and talk about finding ways to help end poverty?

Hey, I'm as guily as the next person. But he does have a good point.

More on Stacy McDonald and the rest of the Patriarchal group at another time