With the summer season heating things up, people everywhere start peeling away the layers that they have worn through the cold months.
When they get near the water the coverings become more risqué. Bathing suits cover very little.
This near-nudity is fueled by one of two trends in our culture of sin. They are both cleverly cloaked in a message of “positive body image”.
What’s wrong with having a positive perspective of the body God has given you? Nothing if practiced in the guidelines given us in scripture.
More on that later…
Trend #1
You Got It So Flaunt It.
The fitness trend has an evil downside, that is the more athletic and well-shaped the human body the more determined people are to “show it off.”
I am not at all against regular exercise or toned muscles. However, for a Christian, this is not a license to exhibit your hard work.
It is our duty to keep our temples in good working order for the glory of God. But we are not to make an exhibition of this dedication to fitness whether in bathing suits, workout clothes, or ball gowns.
Two evils that spawn from this trend are pride in your heart, and lust in the heart of others.
Pride: The Bible counsels women especially to clothe themselves, “In like manner also, that the women adorn themselves in modest apparel,” 1 Timothy 2:9-10
The definition of what denotes modest clothes is up for debate in many circles but it doesn’t have to be complicated.
Dress in a way that doesn’t draw attention to YOU but rather to the God you serve.
This definition addresses not only necklines and hemlines but also expensive brands and attention-getting trends.
Lust: No one likes to talk about this one. But here I go. There is a popular belief that women should be able to dress how they want and still be treated as women as opposed to sexual objects.
The idea that women are not at all responsible for what goes on in a man’s head is a flat denial of the most basic sexuality of men.
Men are visual.
Yes, they must control their thoughts but can we not help them out by discreetly covering those areas that draw the male eye?
The Bible says in Romans 14:13, “that no man put a stumbling block or an occasion to fall in his brother’s way.”
Trend #2
The Comparison Trap
The next pitfall of the fitness movement is more along the lines of comparing your body to someone else’s.
Take ANY body part you can think of and put it into Pinterest and you will get a list of exercises to “fix” that particular part of you.
From inner thigh gaps to hip dips to dancer’s arms, thicker calves, or a rounder buttock. There’s no end to picking apart your average woman’s self-esteem because of the unrealistic expectations they place upon themselves.
I realize that the ideal shape has changed over the decades.
But the less we WEAR the more we are AWARE of our different shapes. The comparison trap is a yawning chasm the swallows many a woman up.
There is a huge difference between having healthy exercise and eating habits and working hard to conform to the newest trend in body shapes and sizes.
Modest dressing promotes a more realistic and contented body image. It will free us from the elusive trap of trying to look like someone else.
So am I advocating ditching your gym membership and wearing a tent? Nope.
What does the Bible say about how we are to think about and treat our bodies?
“Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? 1 Corinthians 3:16
We are expected to care for our bodies and to keep them in health and strength. Our bodies were not created for our own glory and pride but to glorify the one that made them!
‘For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.” 1 Corinthians 6:20
Bought with a price means that we cost something. We have great worth because the price that was paid was the life of the only begotten Son of God. Once we accept the price that was paid for us, we are no longer our own.
We no longer seek to bring glory to ourselves but to the one that gave his life for us. Our underlining reason for existence is to draw attention to the cross, not to our physical bodies.
It is when we embrace the Bible’s teaching on “body image” and allow it to shape our choices that we can truly say, “Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.” 1 Corinthians 10:31
If you would like to read more information on the topic of Biblical modesty, please click on these links!
