Friday, August 29, 2008
5 Reasons For Modesty
Choose Modesty. It Lasts Longer.So, swallowing your conscience, you chose to wear the top that sticks just a teensy bit too close to your curves. The day is over. The top is in the laundry. What did you gain?
When I’ve stubbornly worn something in spite of the nagging feeling that it was immodest, at the end of the day, I haven’t been a bit better off than if had I worn something else. In fact, I’m worse off, because now I’m awash with conviction over thumbing my nose at the Holy Spirit.
In other words, disobedience doesn’t pay. While the pleasure may last for just a moment, when we receive some desired attention or like how the clothes accentuate us, the moment is fleeting.
Did Anyone Care?
I remember reading somewhere the words of a wise lady. She said that her husband advised her not to fuss over the approval of people: “Don’t worry about what others think, because honestly, they don’t think about you.” It’s true, and slightly embarrassing. How often have I fretted over the opinion of someone else, when I probably barely flitted passed their radar?
How long do you think others will be impressed by a particularly attractive, immodest set of clothes? Will they remember how good your body looked next month, or even next week? Not likely—unless it’s the kind of lustful image you don’t want sticking in someone’s mind. So what exactly is the benefit of dressing against our consciences, again anyway? It’s hard to remember.
Three more reasons, coming soon! Meanwhile, check back at The Empowered Traditionalist for updates on the modesty carnival.
Labels: modesty
Thursday, August 28, 2008
Isn’t it funny how often one can read about modesty-- and still collide with a clothes conundrum? You know--a moment when the “what to wear” question jumps from inconsequential to spiritually impacting. At first, when you were getting dressed for the party, you thought you were just picking an outfit from the closet. Now it’s turned into an all-out battle of the will. Your head-knowledge of what’s modest is in to-the-death combat with your affection for that “really cute top.” Who will emerge victorious?
Before continuing one word further, it’s imperative to be on the same page. Modesty is important. To every woman. In every culture. At every age. For in each of these settings, modesty is the picture frame that best illuminates the beauty of womanhood. As Oscar Wilde wrote, "No object is so beautiful, that under certain conditions, it will not look ugly." Immodest womanhood takes the attention from the radiating beauty of character, to an obscene vandalizing of the body where the focus becomes, well, carnal. It destructs (or at least, distracts from) beauty.
Regardless of how some personal approaches to modesty may be legalistic, frumpy, or otherwise distasteful, 1 Timothy 2:9 couldn’t be clearer: “…women should adorn themselves…with modesty.” With that said, the question is not whether modesty should be applied. The question is “are we applying it?”
This matter of clothes runs a bit deeper than mere fabric and skin. As not only common sense (in the words of others, "modesty honors beauty,") but as a Christian principle, modesty ought not be tossed aside as out-dated or culturally irrelevant. Choosing modesty involves a cataclysmic war currently being waged between the “new man” of a Christian and the old “fleshly self.” This is a spiritual issue.
What do I mean? We're born with a natural desire to be selfish--to make a mad dash for attention at any opportunity. When we repent of our sins and fall completely upon Jesus Christ for our redemption, we're changed. We're transformed into a new being on account of God’s forgiveness. But look out! Our flesh (sinful nature) isn’t far away. In fact, it is still latched onto our heels like a rabid puppy.
It is exactly as Paul said in Romans 7:14-15: “For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh, sold under sin. For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate.”
As Kris Lundgaard wrote, “Indwelling sin works like this—enticing, threatening, even bullying. So Paul calls it a law to get us to see that it is powerful even in the lives of believers and that it constantly works to press us into its evil mold.” So are we free from sin? Lundgaard explained it well: “[Christ] has overthrown its rule, weakened its power, and even killed its root, so that it cannot bear the fruit of eternal death in a believer.”
Still, sin is near. We’re faced with it daily, and the temptation to immodesty is no exception. We sometimes wonder, is it really that big of a deal? In the midst of intense rationalization and arguing with ourselves, it doesn’t seem important. But modesty is a command, and by the very nature of being a command, it ought to take priority.
So what’s a girl to do when she’s confronted with an outfit she likes, but knows she shouldn’t wear? How does one make the right choice? When faced with such a moment of decision, I hope these points will be an encouragement to you...
Watch for the second part to this post, "5 Reasons for Modesty."
Labels: modesty
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
2 Days Until....
Sunday, August 24, 2008
An Atheist Heaven
The utopian ideal was articulated best in Thomas More's famous tome (creatively titled Utopia):"In Utopia, where every man has a right to everything... no private man can want anything; for among them there is no unequal distribution, so that no man is poor, none in necessity; and though no man has anything, yet they are all rich."
We may smile at Thomas More's naivete. How foolish, to think that a perfect government can be achieved, and that it would successfully solve the world's problems!
But I have to wonder: is his hope really so far-removed from our own?
Most of us wouldn't call it "the chase for utopia" in so many words, of course, but there it remains--that deep, ever-lurking desire for perfection in a sin-ridden world. As Christians, it's easy to acknowledge that this natural yearning will never be fully satiated on earth. And so, instead of sighing and waiting for a vain dream to be actualized, we comfort each other with thoughts of our eventual destination-- our future Utopia. We call it heaven, but that's nothing more than semantics, since it tends to translate as the same thing in our minds.
Ah, "heaven." The place of everlasting bliss and perfect health, without grief or discord of any kind. You can have anything that your heart desires, because all your desires will be good and pure. Gone are all the tears and pain that accompanied you on earth. You're reunited with all your loved ones, and all is restored to tranquil harmony. It's Eden again, all over.
No surprises there. You can be an atheist, and still find the idea thrilling. That's just utopia after death, and everyone wants utopia.
But what if God was absent from His home? What if His presence was the only thing missing? Imagine it. Could you be content? When you picture heaven, is Christ's presence a footnote, or is He the only reason that everything else would hold any meaning?
John Piper is dead-on:
"Christ did not die to forgive sinners who go on treasuring anything above seeing and savoring God. People who would be happy in heaven if Christ were not there, will not be there. The gospel is not a way to get people to heaven; it is a way to get people to God. If we don't want God above all things, we have not been converted by the gospel." (God is the Gospel, 47)The gift of salvation from eternal torment was not the ultimate purpose of the gospel or the primary motivation for Christ's death. Blotting out our transgressions was the means to accomplish something else, not the end.
It is the glorious truth of the gospel that Christ hung on the cross, bearing the full brunt of God's wrath, that we might be forgiven. And yet, if we believe that a legal pardon from the Father is the greatest good that the gospel accomplishes, our understanding of the gospel is anemic. Christ's blood was not spilled just to buy a bundle of tickets that would admit us through the pearly gates of an atheistic paradise.
In the Garden of Gethsamene, just before He was led to His crucifixion, Jesus knelt and prayed: "Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you. For you granted him authority over all people that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him. Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent" (Jn. 17:1-3).
There's the answer. The cross existed so that we could know God, delight in Him, and savor His glory. Christ died to usher us into an eternal, vibrant relationship with the Triune God of the Bible. He, and He alone, is the reason why heaven will be glorious, and our lives on earth can be filled with the inexpressable joy spoken of in 1 Peter 1. Without Him, we would have nothing.
Have you been looking forward to a God-less utopia?"Propitiation, redemption, forgiveness, imputation, sanctification, liberation, healing, heaven-- none of these is good news except for one reason: they bring us to God for our everlasting enjoyment of Him. If we believe all these things have happened to us, but do not embrace them for the sake of getting to God, they have not happened to us."
Book Giveaway Announcement
Ladies, we have a winner for our book giveaway! Kaitlin T. will be receiving Dangerous Duty of Delight: The Glorified God and the Satisfied Soul in the mail. If you haven't read this little book of John Piper's, we highly recommend getting a copy. "John Piper turns your heart towards the one true Object of human desire – God. He shows how fulfilling your duty to delight in Him can change your attitude toward worship, toward marriage, toward material goods, toward your very mission and purpose on earth." Enjoy reading, Kaitlin!
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
Hosted by Christa Taylor, we'll be chatting in the upcoming carnival about modern modesty. Stay tuned, grab some cotton candy, and if you'd like to be especially sweet, let others know about the carnival.
Monday, August 18, 2008
The Overwhelming Thing
"But God is the God of the waves and the billows, and they are still His when they come over us; and again and again we have proved that the overwhelming thing does not overwhelm. Once more by His interposition deliverance came. We were cast down, but not destroyed." -Amy Carmichael (HT: A Sweet Fragrance)
On June 28th, Kazakh supermodel, Ruslana Korshunova committed suicide by jumping from her New York apartment building. Her mother told reporters: "She didn't have a single reason to do this and 1,001 reasons to live."
Ruslana was only twenty-one, on the top of her game in the modelling world, and had recently become enamored with a new boyfriend. Yet in spite of Ruslana's outward signs of 'success,' her frequent internet postings reveal a deep hopelessness. She wrote, "I'm so lost. Will I ever find myself?"
This young woman's death is tragic to me on so many levels. My heart is grieved for this person who had achieved everything the American dream could offer, only to find herself emptied of the strength to live one day more. Her death reminds me of the suffocation of trying to survive without hope.
Recently, I posted on "Feeling Funky"--those moments when depressed emotions get the better of us. The feedback I received honestly surprised me. I wasn't sure at the time just how helpful a post on our emotions would be. I realize now my naivete in assuming that others have not felt the weight of depression. Shifting emotions are so common--even the spiritual heroes in history have experienced them.
Isobel Kuhn, the bold missionary to China, wrote in her autobiography of a period before her salvation, when she contemplated suicide:
"'There is that bottle in the bathroom marked Poison. A good long drink and your troubles are over.' A good idea. The only sensible solution. I jumped out of bed and started for the bathroom....My hand was on the door knob when a deep groan, twice repeated, broke the silence of the dark. It was my father, moaning in his sleep in the next room...He had been such a dear, kind father to me all my life. Dare I make him such a dastardly return? No, I couldn't be so mean and selfish. In agony I turned and sat down on the edge of my bed and faced the darkest moment of my life. I didn't want to live and I couldn't die! Oh the black despair of the Misty Flats [an area symbolizing to Isobel her life of complacency and compromise]. How little did I know the golden sunshine pouring on the High Way above them!"(By Searching)
This depression isn't the exclusive property of unbelievers. David once cried out for God to "restore" to him the joy of his salvation. (He had lost it.) Jeremiah bemoaned his own condition: "I have been deprived of peace; I have forgotten what prosperity is." (Lam. 3:17) Francis Schaeffer, the Christian philosopher, implied a close acquaintance with the feeling himself, when he responded to the letter of a troubled former student:
"I do cry with you--and I know the depression, of the moving of the waves, in the ocean of each individual....(Letters of Francis A. Schaeffer, italics mine.)
"It will not do merely to say stop turning inward. This is both cruel and unrealistic. Yet there must be some way to go on, by finding the objective realities of God's existence and the work of Christ in history. With none of us is the way of going on steady and unbroken. But neither must we panic. Nor must we underestimate our subconscious deliberately tempting us--whether the temptations be physical ones or, strange as it may seem, the desire for tears. Nor must we spend a lifetime looking inward.... The balance is honesty under the searching of the Holy Spirit; and [at the same time] living in an objective perspective, in the objective realities I have mentioned before."
In other words, question yourself. Try to find out why you're feeling so dejected. But don't let it end with yourself. Ultimately, you must cling to the absolutes that you know are true, even when you do not feel them.
Here is shown an apparent difference between the depression a Christian can experience and the depression of a nonbeliever. Where the nonbeliever has no Biblical absolutes--no anchored faith--a Christian has an immense advantage. Whether we feel it or not, Christ is our hope. Even when we feel hopeless, Christ still remains our hope--our one faithful Defender in the time we call for help, as well as in the time we are too sapped of strength to cry.
On a day I felt completely and utterly low, I found deep encouragement from Ephesians 3:20-21: "Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen."
Read that again, slowly.
Are you succumbing to depression? Have your emotions gone through the roof? Or, do you feel a numbness of spirit that seems to continue on and on? Keep in mind the tremendousness of that verse. God is able "to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think." He can surprise us (and often, He does) with His love and graciousness. Just when we think we've reached the end of God's love, He lavishes more upon us. There is a Hope for the hopeless, and He knows you by name.
Don't forget Schaeffer's advice, either. If we're bogged down by our feelings, I wonder if it has something to do with us not dwelling enough in "objective realities." Maybe we're not standing confidently on the truth we know. Maybe we've neglected to remind ourselves of the unconditional-ness of God's grace; His faithfulness, and the joy that should naturally flow through us as a response to being near Him. "Weeping may last for the night, but a shout of joy comes in the morning." (Psalm 30:5)
Does that seem overly simplistic? I know how it sounds, and I know that, somehow, no words really fit to summarize the despair. I don't have all the answers. I'm not even sure how to end this. But this I do know: there is hope for Isobels and Schaeffer's--a hope that says we have no need to join the statistic of Ruslana's. There is a certainty we can grip onto with our own two hands; a confidence that we won't be allowed to let go. And at the end, when the waves of emotion have passed, we'll find that our anchor held fast. We'll have "proved that the overwhelming thing does not overwhelm." And then we will meet a glorious sunrise.
Labels: depression, emotions
Friday, August 15, 2008
Book Giveaway, Part Deux
At the end of this coming week, Lindsey and I will be giving away a copy of a book by one of our favorite authors. We've read, pondered, discussed and prayed over what John Piper has written.
The winner of this contest will be receiving a brand new copy, free.
So how do you enter? Simply email us (contact.bfth[Remove_SPAM]@gmail.com) your name and the email address at which we can reach you. Then you'll be entered into a drawing, which will decide the book giveaway winner.
Note: Contest only open to U.S. residents. Contestants are welcome to enter once per day. The contest winner will be requested via email to send us their shipping address. If contest winner does not comply, contest winner does not receive foresaid prize. 'Tis the nature of the postal system.
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
Questioning Fashion?
Christa Taylor recently wrote on her blog, The Empowered Traditionalist,
Over dinner my Dad and I were talking about young men, and possible “turn-offs” in a young woman (namely myself). Because I am so constantly immersed in the fashion biz and environment I tend to dress in a more avante-garde manner. My father admonished me-Check out the full post here.
“Dressed super stylishly, you can send the wrong message. You want a guy attracted to your heart, so you dress yourself with good works. I don’t want guys attracted to my daughter for her figure.” After pointing out several items that he thought were pushing the envelope, I left nursing my pride. Later, of course, I found myself humbly grateful for his protecting intervention and told him so.
It was time to re-evaluate my heart. Some questions I posted by my dressing mirror:
- Am I pushing the envelope?
- Is this fashion honoring to God or myself?
- Who am I dressing for? Whose attention do I desire and whose approval do I crave?
- Why am I wearing what I’m wearing?
These thoughts struck me and caused me to consider the purpose of fashion. Why do I dress fashionably? For my own satisfaction? Or with a heart wanting to please God? And, is it possible to dress fashionably without being vain?
What do you think?
Sunday, August 10, 2008
The Awe Factor
Francis Chan talks about the magnificence of God.
Thursday, August 07, 2008
The Joy of Salvation
"We often think that faith is a recipe for getting what we want from God. If that were true, it would mean that if I could just muster enough faith, I would no longer be blind. But faith is not mean to offer an escape from life's difficulties; its purpose is to give us strength to endure them....When you smash the last brick of your wall of bitterness with the hammer of gratitude, you will hear the echo of the words Jesus spoke to the leper: 'Your faith has made you well.'
Have you come back, thrown yourself at His feet, and thanked Him? Until you do, you'll never experience wellness that your faith can provide. To be reminded of God's great gift of salvation makes all other gifts pale in comparison. All of us who have received it need to come back to Jesus and throw ourselves before Him, praising and thanking Him loudly."
-Jennifer Rothschild, Lessons I Learned in the Dark
Wednesday, August 06, 2008
No Little People?
I feel small. No, not short. Small.
I scan the news and the campus and see people who are making an impact. They're culture shifters, trendsetters, attention-getters. I notice them when they come into a room; we all want to meet them. My sinful inclination is to desire what those people have: a following, influence, impact.
But I'm small, and my impact, influence, and following seem insignificant.
It's not that I yearn for the kind of fame here on earth that a politician or musician might get. I just want to be known as the guy who changed lives (thousands, preferably), who saved souls (again, thousands), or who started a revival in my country. I want to be a "big person." I don't want to be small and unused.
Check out the rest of Tim Sweetman's convicting and encouraging article on Boundless, No Little People.
Monday, August 04, 2008
What You Shouldn't Pray For
Recently, I heard a Christian radio host say on the air how he believed that Christians should be wary of giving to God their "little troubles" in prayer.
He went on to magnify God's greatness and immanence and transcendence and saying something along the lines of, "I would be very cautious to approach such a great God with a little matter."Hmm. Was he right? Part of me could see his point. Prayers must constantly knock at the gates of Heaven, requesting God to provide tricked out Camaros and good grades without studying. I do wonder how our prayers would change if we constantly minded God's holiness.
Take a look at what Francis Chan wrote on this in his book, Crazy Love:
"Solomon warned us not to rush into God's presence with words. That's what foolsI'd like to meet the person who figured that last statistic out. On second thought, I wouldn't.
do. And often, that's what we do." A couple of pages later, he went on to elaborate on God's awesomeness. He wrote, "Did you know that a caterpillar has 228 separate and distinct muscles in its head? That's quite a few, for a bug. The average elm tree has approximately 6 million leaves on it. And your own heart generates enough pressure as it pumps blood throughout your body that it could squirt blood up to 30 feet."
Think of God speaking into existence a caterpillar's head, elm tree's leaves, and then saying, "You haven't seen anything yet!" It sends shivers down my spine. What can't He do?
God's majesty is such that the ancient Hebrews were commanded to not even touch the mountain upon which He dwelled. As a result of His Presence, the mountain "burned with fire, and to blackness and darkness and tempest, and the sound of a trumpet and the voice of words, so that those who heard it begged that the word should not be spoken to them anymore....And so terrifying was the sight that Moses said, 'I am exceedingly afraid and trembling.'" (Hebrews 12:18-19,21)
And this is the God we pray to.
With that in mind, the writer of Ecclesiastes wrote, "Do not be rash with your mouth, and let not your heart utter anything hastily before God. For God is in heaven, and you on earth; therefore, let your words be few...for a fool's voice is known by his many words." (Ecclesiastes 5:2)
Does it then follow that we shouldn't pray to God for "little things?" Does it make logical sense that because God is holy, He doesn't care about the minute details of our lives?
A wise woman once noted how even Christians tend to be Diests. Diests, as you may recall, are those who believe in the existence of God, but deny His involvement in our every day lives. She wrote, "A Deist is someone who calls himself a Christian but thinks like a Deist thinks.... He mistrusts 'enthusiasts' (18th century word) or 'fanatics' (21st century word) who pray as if God is involved in every detail of his day."
That observation hit home with me. How often is it that we pray that God would provide divine healing for a person we know with a brain tumor, or some other issue we see as "big" and worthy of divine intervention, but we don't ask Him "to give us this day our daily bread?"
This point could be made clearer by asking ourselves how often we pray for a friend's healing, for someone in the hospital, or for something completely beyond our power. Then, ask how often we pray for our parents to have peace and joy, or for our sister's tendency to argue? I think we naturally think that God deals only with large miracles and don't bother offering up our smaller grievances as well.
In Charles Spurgeon's autobiography, the story is told of how God miraculously provided two seemingly trivial gifts to Mrs. Spurgeon. She told the story herself:
Repeatedly throughout the New Testament, God makes clear that He wants us to prove our confidence in Him by offering up our petitions and praises. "Cast your cares upon Him for He cares for you." (1 Peter 5:7) "Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you." (1 Thessalonians 5:16-17)"One ever-recurring question when he had to leave me was, 'What can I bring you, wifey?' I seldom answered him by a request, for I had all things richly to enjoy, except health. But, one day, when he put the usual query, I said, playfully, 'I should like an opal ring, and a Piping bullfinch!' He looked surprised, and rather amused; but simply replied, 'Ah, you know I cannot get those for you!' Two or three days we made merry over my singular choice of desirable articles; but, one Thursday evening, on his return from the Tabernacle, he came into my room with such a beaming face, and such love-lighted eyes, that I knew something had delighted him very much. In his hand he held a tiny box, and I am sure his pleasure exceeded mine as he took from it a beautiful little ring, and placed it on my finger. 'There is your opal ring, my darling,' he said, and then he told me of the strange way in which it had come.
An old lady, whom he had once seen when she was ill, sent a note to the Tabernacle to say she desired to give Mrs. Spurgeon a small present and could someone be sent to her to receive it? Mr. Spurgeon’s private secretary went, accordingly, and brought the little parcel which, when opened, was found to contain this opal ring! How we talked of the Lord's tender love for His stricken child, and of His condescension in thus stooping to supply an unnecessary gratification to His dear servant's sick one, I must leave my readers to imagine; but I can remember feeling that the Lord was very near to us.
Not long after that, I was moved to Brighton, there to pass a crisis in my life, the result of which would be a restoration to better health--or death. One evening, when my dear husband came from London, he brought a large package with him, and, uncovering it disclosed a cage containing a lovely piping bullfinch! My astonishment was great, my joy unbounded, and these emotions were intensified as he related the way in which he became possessed of the coveted treasure. He had been to see a dear friend of ours, whose husband was sick unto death; and, after commending the sufferer to God in prayer, Mrs. T- said to him, 'I want you to take my pet bird to Mrs. Spurgeon, I would give him to none but her; his songs are too much for my poor husband in his weak state, and know that 'Bully' will interest and amuse Mrs. Spurgeon in her loneliness while you are so much away from her.' Dear Mr. Spurgeon then told her of my desire for such a companion, and together they rejoiced over the care of the loving Heavenly Father, who had so wondrously provided the very gift His child had longed for. With that cage beside him, the journey to Brighton was a very short one; and when 'Bully' piped his pretty song, and took a hemp seed as a reward from the lips of his new mistress, there were eyes with joyful tears in them, and hearts overflowing with praise to God, in the little room by the sea that night; and the dear Pastor's comment was, 'I think you are one of your Heavenly Father's spoiled children, and He just gives you whatever you ask for.'
Does anyone doubt that this bird was a direct love-gift from the pitiful Father! Do I hear someone say, 'Oh! it was all 'chance' that brought about such coincidences as these'? Ah, dear friends! Those of you who have been similarly indulged by Him know, of a certainty, that it is not so. He who cares for all the works of His hand, cares with infinite tenderness for the children of His love, and thinks nothing which concerns them too small or too trivial to notice."
While meditating on God's majesty is something I ought to spend more time on, and God doesn't appreciate foolish prayers, I suspect that our natural tendency toward folly doesn't erase God's interest in our "little worries."
And anyway, wouldn't you think that a God who created 228 muscles in a caterpillar's head likes details?
