The Skinty

Beautiful for Him

I recall catching a lot of flack as a new believer due to how I dressed. I was never one to have it all hanging out, yet if I think back on some things I probably had more hanging out than I ought to have had. Or better put I did not dressed in the modest way I should have dressed as a child of God. Although I was doing things a lot more innocent due to the conversion, I hadn’t quite gotten there yet. So although I received a rather harsh rebuke for the crime I thought, I was still able to eat of it due to their being some need for change on my part. I felt it harsh due to the fact that I saw nothing wrong in what I was doing at the time and it would have been a bit different if I was purposely dressing in a way that did not glorify God. Don’t get me wrong, a rebuke was necessary just not the degree after all the Lord Himself says He resists the proud and gives grace to the humble. Yet although I wasn’t given grace, the experience caused me to think on some things and let me add after that even when I ate of the correction and changed, I’d still get snide remarks said to me based on that past, now wearing make up or wearing my hair a certain way etc in a way that was appropriate oppose to still needing to grow in that area.

This time I didn’t receive it but rather sought the Lord on how I should dress what I should look like what pleases and displeases Him. The thing about it, by the time I got to this point, I dressed nowhere near how I use to dress style wise if I couldn’t answer the question “who was I dressing for” and respond to self “the Father” than I didn’t need to put it on. Not even speaking on dressing provocatively but even focusing too much on fashion, couldn’t see the purpose so much any more and I didn’t want to attract a guy on the basis of how I dressed but based on my heart. A far cry from the woman who wanted to be a fly grandmom, now if Value City has it and it’s on sell on top of the already low price, I’m pretty much there LOL.

Needless to say my wardrobe changed but I still had some flair, there is a part of me that’s just creative and that will creep out even when I’m not trying to dress a certain way or focus on appearance. So with that said, this brings me back to I got to thinking as I said about a paragraph or two back, as I’m being questions about my motives for dressing the way that I do, Being mindful of the brothers so that they don’t stumble and the various things both said to me as wel as what’s in God’s word. My question was what happens to the gorgeous that can put on a moo moo and would still have suitors knocking down their doors?!! And not to knock myself but I know what I have can be played down in this society, there are women who no matter what you do to them you can’t play them down in this society. For instance Halle Berry makes a pretty convincing crack head yet even in those roles you still see her beauty. There are other women in Hollywood that they’re beautiful but the correct make up or lack there of can make them look rather jacked, choosing not to name names as not to insult, even if they’d most likely not read this ezine or would agree with me as the purpose would be to look jacked for the role. Now all of these thoughts got me to thinking even further. We know what the word says about the vanity of beauty, yet we know also that it was created by God so for what purpose? We certainly did not have a say in how we look, and Satan doesn’t have that type of access to design us from the womb, so again what’s the purpose of being beautiful?

I was listening to Joshua Harris in an interview, unfortunately I can’t recall what I was listening to, for some reason the Lord had me listening to much Josh Harris that week and this particular thing he said created a light bulb moment for me. He was speaking on purity and being chaste and made the point that woman were created beautiful for her husband. When women ask the question if God didn’t want me to flaunt it why did He give it to me? We can now say, because God wanted your husband to be able to enjoy your beauty. It was not given to the female to become a seductress or to manipulate with or to get the job or the parking space or whatever other foolish thing beauty is placed in this world on a pedestal to achieve. The woman was created beautiful for the man she was created to share this life with. Keeping in mind the original plan of God as some of us will not marry some of us may be born beautiful and lose that beauty in a fire or some other accident, these situations did not exist in God’s original plan therefore there are elements of us that still exist even in this fallen world. And be it that we are fallen, we do now have to learn how to respond properly to them.

Hearing Mr. Harris make that statement allowed me to place things in proper perspective, husband or not. And let me add how it tied to my story:) The ideal that was being fed to me is that we are not to give room to beauty basically, rather than teaching modesty I was moreso being taught that beauty was a bad thing. So it taught me that I don’t have to walk around looking like who did it and why as if beauty itself is a sin, I can still ask my question who am I dressing this way for? And let me add that’s a necessity daily not just an I can. And sure we do need to consider our brothers in the faith, yet we don’t have to hide behind a veil or be ashamed of being beautiful and men have to be made responsible for getting their flesh in check as well. A woman covered from head to toe will still spark the interest of the wrong guy. And therefore with that I can be cautious of how I present myself, knowing that I wasn’t designed to draw everyone and everything to myself, also a beautiful thing when not a soul is paying you a bit of attention huh:)

Today I can say modesty and modest women are the most attractive thing on the planet, the recognition of her beauty typically causes me to want to dress like her but not to flaunt to cover and command the respect of the onlooker. While also being appealing to the one the Lord will have me to marry with no shame. And most importantly, to please and not shame my creator.