About MODESTY

Someone told me, “Nanay kaayo ka tan-awon.”

(I can tell sure enough that that referred to the garments I am on, also that I look older and worn out)

I responded, “Of course, nanay na bitaw ko!”

Today, as I take a glimpse of myself at the mirror I know for sure that motherhood added a couple of years to my features.

I look a lot older than my age, from my wrinkly face to my double chin to my undesirable waist line to my entire plump figure (fair enough to say, overweight, tsk tsk).

I admit, at times, my appearance gives me that gloomy feeling. I also wish to have that hourglass-like figure. I also dreamed of wearing those trendy outfits but that’s just about that.

Uh huh! I wear “nanay-ish” clothes even supposing I could wear the latest trend in town. I choose to do so, even if the world would call that old-fashioned, old shool, old-style, or whatever old.

For what reason?

1.       I believe that my body is not my own. It’s my Master’s. (Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own. – 1 Cor. 6:19) I was made to glorify God and not myself so I need not draw others’ attention towards me.

2.       I vowed to the Lord and upon witnesses and to the man God gave me. I believe that a wife is only for her husband and the husband for his wife alone, especially his/her own body. NOT AT ALL necessary to flaunt to others. ( The wife does not have authority over her own body but yields it to her husband. In the same way, the husband does not have authority over his own body but yields it to his wife. – 1 Cor. 7:4)

3.        I consider MODESTY as the hottest trend of all time. Like how Mr. Jarid Wilson stated in his article “4 REASONS BEING MODEST IS THE HOTEST.” How you dress up somehow defines you. (I also want the women to dress modestly, with decency and propriety, adorning themselves, not with elaborate hairstyles or gold or pearls or expensive clothes, but with good deeds, appropriate for women who profess to worship God. – 1 Timothy 2:9-10) And, needless to say, shabbiness is another story.

4.       I know for sure that true beauty is beyond the outer shell, beyond the world’s standard of it. (Charm is deceitful, and beauty is fleeting, but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised. – Proverbs 31:30). Whether you’re innately beautiful, synthetically beautiful, digitally beautiful, or uniquely beautiful, learn by heart that everything the mirror says is momentary. True lasting beauty is of your inner self – a heart after God. (Let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God's sight is very precious. – 1 Peter 3:4)

5.       I want to specially emphasize outfit appropriateness. We all want to look our best and be the best that we can be. But let me ask you, do you want to wear a bikini at a formal gathering? That say, we can always flaunt, but please oh please, appropriately.  This case is very crucial to me because I am very much saddened by the fact that, more often than not, many people are very cautious of what to wear during a job interview, or in a formal gathering, or at the prom but not mindful of the way they dress up at church.  One would surely feel awkward to face the president, or the mayor or the company boss or the principal or whoever authorities while wearing scanty garments. Doesn’t the Most High deserve the highest reverence?! (You were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies. – 1 Cor. 6:20) Drawing others’ attention to ourselves, which every so often causes them to sin, is NEVER necessary. We ought to focus on glorifying God. Oh come on, we spend so much on other things thus making excuses unacceptable not to have a single set of appropriate church attire.

Being prim and proper never hurts me at all, even if sometimes the world tells me that I’m boring and unattractive. I desire to be a woman after God’s own heart. And praise God for the blessing of having a husband who’s happy of a wife that’s not flaunty. We all have different points of view, I know, but the Word of God is fundamental and timeless. It is never old-fashioned nor inappropriate!