We Are God's Servants

IN EVERYTHING AND IN EVERY WAY WE SHOW THAT WE TRULY ARE GOD'S SERVANTS. 2 Corinthians 6.4.

A church music leader, a pastor's wife who is a popular singer, appeared on a Hollywood stage in a ‘revealing low neck’ outfit. The press photographers as usual took great mileage out of it and flashed the pictures all over the place. A big storm rose in that city and its ripples reached every shore in Asia and beyond. The general protest from the Christians was that ‘she shouldn’t have worn such a revealing dress that brought shame to the Christians and the church!’ It caused a split in the church!

What is this uproar about? It is all about the way a Christian lady appeared in public in an offending and outrageous dress. Thank God there are enough sensible and sensitive Christians left in our churches who are concerned about our testimony before the world. If only this lady, a pastor’s wife, had heeded what the apostle taught, she wouldn’t have made this mistake!

But why blame her? Christian women all over the world are aping the latest Broadway 'sexy fashions'! A Christian magazine from India in its recent issue devoted a full article on women’s dress in the church and in public. It has become a global problem as we live in a global village today. What Hollywood dictates, the rest of the world imitates! Sadly, Christian ladies too dress as though they do not want to be left out. As the Indian writer commented, ‘they wear too little, too tight and reveal too much of their shape and flesh!’

Even our children do not want to be left behind in fashion. “They dress like Brittany Spears”, someone said. I read in a Christian newsletter from Australia that a popular singing group drew over 15,000 youngsters all dressed and decked like that ‘rebellious little brat’. The group had them singing meaningless ‘hallelujahs’ and dancing in the air!

In the church and in fellowships where men, women, boys and girls gather and where the Lord is present, how indecent and unbecoming it is for sisters to expose their nakedness! An outsider would think that we are having a fashion show of legs and thighs, pretty or not! Have they ever gone to a temple or mosque and seen such obscene vulgarity among women who come to worship their god? The Muslims would have stoned them to death for Allah’s sake!

Listen sister! Apostle Paul commands, “I want women to dress modestly, with decency and propriety, not with braided hair or gold or pearls or expensive clothes, but with good deeds, appropriate for women who profess to worship God” (1 Tim 2.9,10). Dress code is only about the outward aspect of our Christian life. The apostle goes deeper than the skin and cautions us about every aspect of our lives that are exposed to the world!

Pray and practise with me: Dear Lord, You have taught me, “let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven” (Mt 5.16). Help me by my dress and conduct to bring honour to You. Amen.