God is Anti-Nakedness

OH, if only we knew this – that God is anti-nakedness. If every Christian woman knows this, it will change the way she dresses. Many of us fail the test when it comes to implementing the Lordship of Jesus Christ in this area of our lives.

The Scriptures are very clear about how godly women should dress. Under the direction of the Holy Spirit, the apostle Paul instructed women to dress modestly with shamefacedness (shyness) and sobriety. Put in today’s language, the passage in 1 Timothy 2:9–10 simply means that there must be discretion, decency, and a degree of shyness (over too much exposure) in our dressing.

If we Christian women cannot even adhere to such a simple commandment to dress modestly or decently, then what other commandments can we keep? The Scriptures clearly forbid women to wear clothes that are indecent and that suggest wantonness in our character. Whether we like it or not, one’s character is definitely seen in one’s dressing!

That is why people react with hostility when we comment negatively on their dressing because they see it as an attack on their character. It behoves us to remember that the worship of God has everything to do with our outward demeanour and our dressing.

It is not true that Christian women cannot adorn themselves or be dressed fashionably, tastefully, sophisticatedly or attractively. Have you noticed the way God adorns His own creation? Just look at the different hues and the blending of colours in the flowers, the birds, the rainbow, the sea and the clouds. It is amazing!

Creation definitely displays God’s good taste and love of beauty, refinement and colours. Creation is variegated and it speaks loudly to us that God is a God of variety and design. He is artistic, innovative and resourceful. Yes, we can adorn ourselves in whatever way we want but definitely not in a manner that is distasteful or indecent.

This will not only draw untoward and negative attention to us but will also fuel men’s minds with uncontrollable lust and obscenity. Hollywood is full of this stuff. It is because Jesus is not the Lord of Hollywood.

Christian women are called to be the true guardians of virtue, but have we today degenerated so much that we have no true lustre in our character? Are we so destitute of inward beauty that we have to dress immodestly and seductively to draw attention to ourselves?

Surely not! Must we dress provocatively so that we can be special or ‘singular’ enough to court some notice or admiration from lustful and wanton eyes? Of course not! Have we no more Holy Ghost power to draw people to Jesus that we have to revert to indecent dressing or dressing like the world in order to draw in the crowds?

No! No! No! Must I degenerate into a prostitute in order to win the prostitute, or become a drug addict before I can preach to the drug addict? God forbid! Yet some women in some churches are advocating: ‘Dress like the world so we can draw them in!’ What dark satanic counsel! This is so frightening.

Jesus Christ has set the value of women to be higher than the price of rubies. We are costly and precious. Let us remain so! We are to be His ‘garden enclosed and fountain sealed.’ We do not need this cheap publicity copied from Hollywood. We have God’s nobility, beauty, standard, power and holiness inside, and more than this, we have His love. Let all these be expressed through our dressing.

Why copy from Hollywood? Hollywood women are destitute of these qualities. This is why they dress the way they do. Every form of rebellion, lust, pride, uncleanness, lack of self-restraint, perversion and selfishness has been expressed through their fashions and their dressing.

The saying, ‘God looks on the inside, not on the outside, so do not judge people by their dressing’ is wrong, wrong, wrong! Why? Because the inside always controls the outside. Dress is always a symbol of our character. Our choice of clothes reveals deep things about us, things that we are not even conscious of.

If a woman shows no outward restraint or shame in her scanty or improper dressing, it means she has no self-restraint on her inside. It is frightening when a woman exercises no restraint in her thoughts and feelings and does not even know what ‘shamefacedness’ (shyness) or embarrassment is. God’s scathing rebuke to the nation of Israel revealed their terrible state of degeneration and deviation. The nation did not even know shame. They ‘could not blush.’ In the end God had to destroy them. Read Jeremiah 6:15.

Christian women need to be taught to dress with modesty and discretion because so many churches in the city are impacted with improperly and immodestly dressed women. Many pastors and church leaders do not dare speak out for fear of the repercussions. As we grow in our knowledge of God, we will realise that Father God loves discretion and order and hates nakedness and immodesty. This aspect of His character is seen in His commandments to the nation of Israel.

Firstly, we see Him instructing His people in the Old Testament to put fringes in their sleeves, to the hemline and to the neckline of their garments to properly cover themselves. Read Deuteronomy 22:12.

Secondly, He specifically instructed that altars in those days were to be built on lower ground. To have altars built on a high place would mean that the priests had to walk up the steps to carry out their services. This would uncover their nakedness to the people below.

What a prudent and discreet God. He is so full of details, foresight and insight. His thoughts are on everything. He even safeguarded His priests from peeping toms! Yes, when it came to worshipping Him, He made sure that nothing would infringe upon that sacred and holy worship, not even improper demeanour or dressing. Read Exodus 20:26.

Know your God, ladies. Know your God. Know that He is indeed discreet and modest and He hates uncovered bodies. As we increase in our knowledge of Him, may we also improve on the way we dress ourselves. Let there be decency and modesty in our attire.

Our children must learn the right things from us. If mothers do not dress properly, their children will not. If pastors’ wives do not dress moderately, the church members will not. Every godly pastor and church leader or Christian statesman should pastor his wife in the area of her dressing if she has missed the mark. I am not talking about control; I am talking about directing so that their spouses will dress properly and discreetly, with the testimony of Jesus shining through their lives. If we want our children to grow up with a sense of godliness and worth, then they must be taught the ways of God. They must be taught to value their own bodies as private property and as God’s holy temple. Yes, children must be taught that their bodies are not public property. They are not to be gawked at by lustful men and lecherous eyes on the street.

Yes, the experiential and revelational knowledge of our God must indeed raise us from the degradation of all sensuality and vulgarity, so often found in our dressing, to purity and nobility. God’s standard, found in the Bible, should minister guidance for life, release true solace or security for our spirits and provide us with instruction for righteousness in our daily living…and dressing.

“O God, help us. Help us glorify You in every area of our lives. We are called to change and to influence the world but why is the world changing and influencing so many of us instead? Help us to manifest Your nobility, holiness, purity, beauty and refinement through our outward demeanour and our dressing. By Your Holy Spirit, deal with us and work obedience into us so that the testimony of Jesus will be recovered in our dressing. May the holiness, the serenity, quietness, nobility and refinement of Jesus be seen through our dressing.” – This is an extract from My Life: Increasing in the Experiential and Revelational Knowledge of God.