VIRTUE: a valued principle of good moral behavior; a holy habit.
Modesty: regard for decency of behavior, speech and dress.
VICE: a practice of wrong doing; the corruption of virtue; an unholy habit.
Exhibitionism: a compulsive desire to attract attention to oneself by exaggerated behavior; exposing oneself.
Growing up my father kept a Playboy calendar just above the scales in our only bathroom. So needless to say, modesty wasn't taught to me as a child. Yet, when I became a teenager in the early 70's and going bra-less was "cool" my father would berate me and say, "No daughter of mine is going to walk around like that!" Conflicting messages to be sure.
Admittedly, I lived most of my life as a sex addicted exhibitionist, reeling in prey for my sexual desires. Though in recovery eight years, modesty still remains my biggest challenge. No matter how well I'm doing with my own personal speech, behavior and dress, the enemy will sneak up when I least expect it and try to get my mind. Satan knows if he can plant an image in my mind, sexual fantasies are not far away. And if a fantasy takes root... acting out is sure to follow.
Modesty among Christian women is a real problem today! Even with strong boundaries on my media input at home, the enemy's is still at work... for my worst days are often at church. I stopped attending a local church because there was a woman greeter that regularly dressed like she was going clubbing: decked out with 6' spiked platform shoes, a low cut clingy top and a tight short skirt. That's not what we need to see coming into our house of worship!
When we fall in one Virtue... we fall in many. A lot of things in life cause chain reactions, the Virtues are no different. Here are a few Virtues I believe that affect our Modesty or are affected by our lack of Modesty...
Chastity, Composure, Graciousness, Humility, Integrity, Meekness, Piety, and Purity.
Are you one of those women who doesn't care how she dresses even at church? We must be mindful of our speech, behavior and dress. We never know who is watching and how it could be affecting them.
Let's prayerfully rededicate our mind and heart to God with this Keith Green classic song:
Create in Me a Clean Heart http://youtu.be/mD2PJ0xbAdY