You are what you wear. Whether or not one wants to admit it, all of the clothing styles that individuals wear bear certain levels of uniformity. This means that what we wear defines our personality and/or values. In our current society, however, many seem to have forgotten (or disregarded) the guidelines for proper clothing for daily living; for example, the clothes people wear to work or to other important affairs seem to be becoming more and more casual, even in the most formal settings. More seriously, people have found it necessary to flaunt their bodies proudly in public with the items they wear. As Christians, it is our duty to make the Church a �city on a hill,� meaning that we must dress, act, and live in a proper and respectable way so that we are able to bring people to Christ. However, when we tolerate grossly casual dress or, even worse, immodest dress, we not only make ourselves into a more worldly institution, but we make it harder for others to worship the Lord in the church.
Americans have traditionally been taught to wear formal and respectable clothing whenever we go to a job interview or meet an important person (the mayor, the governor, the President, or a king or queen). Even in the current years, people still continue to monitor how they dress for certain occasions. One thing that has changed, however, is the attitude about what to wear to church on Sundays. While a given individual will wear a suit, tie, and dress shoes to a job interview, he will only wear a T-shirt, jeans, and gym shoes to church. On the surface, it could easily (and even falsely) be assumed by such behavior that getting a job is a more important occasion for said person than maintaining a relationship with God with fellow believers.
Such individuals can easily assert that they cannot be prohibited from wearing casual clothing to church because James 2: 2-4 shows that it is wrong to discriminate against a person on the basis of apparel. These verses, however, speaks mainly against class discrimination. If there are God-fearing Christians who are so poor that all they can afford are T-Shirts and jeans, then that is what they should wear to church (provided that there are no anti-Christian messages or symbols on them), and no one should rebuke them. However, there are many of us who have entire wardrobes of suits, dress shirts, and dress pants, or dresses, blouses, and dress skirts. They will proudly wear such items to work, to dinners, or even to go shopping, but they will overlook them when it is time to dress for church. When the average person prepares to visit royalty or other important people, he or she will make it top priority to wear the very best items from his/her closet as a measure of respect and recognition. But wait a minute! Isn�t our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ supposed to be the Ruler of the Universe, the King of Kings? Doesn�t it seem disrespectful that one would give more genuflection to a fallible human than to the Maker of all things? This is exactly what we are doing when we do not give our best of everything�including clothes�to the glory of God.
While wearing casual clothing is something that does not automatically question morality, wearing immodest apparel does. One time at my church, I was in the balcony before service was to begin, when I looked down and saw the bare back of a teenage parishioner with long hair. For a split second, I thought she was naked. Later, I saw that she was wearing a halter-top. Another time, also in the summer, another young congregant came to acolyte wearing a top with spaghetti straps, and tight jeans that gave an obvious display of her body. Even though I knew that she was only twelve or thirteen years old, any stranger could easily have mistaken her for a sixteen or seventeen-year-old. Despondently, the fact is that these are only two of many young girls of this church who dress in ways like this. While the aforementioned girls may not intend to do so, wearing tight, flesh-bearing, and suggestive clothing not only makes it seem that they lack respect for themselves, but also for those who come to worship. Firstly, it is the duty of all women to insist and plead that they are worth the same measure of respect that is given to men. They must not only do this with their intelligence, determination, and creativity, but also with their wardrobe. Donning tight, skimpy blouses, miniskirts, �booty jeans,� and/or �daisy dukes� is like wearing a sign that says �Treat me like an object. My body is my only element of worth.� Many girls who mean well have been drawn in by the world�s power of influence, where the common attitude is �If it feels good, do it�even if it is disrespectful or even dangerous.� The Word says four things to contest this: ��Everything is permissible to me��but not everything is beneficial. �Everything is permissible for me��but I will not be mastered by anything.� (1Corinthians 6:12). �Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God�s will is�His good, pleasing and perfect will.� (Romans 12:2) �Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body.� (1Corinthians 6:19). �I also 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 Timothy 2:9-10)
Secondly, it is the duty of all Christians to be family to each other and help each other�s faith to stay strong, not to lead anyone astray. It is written: �We who are strong ought to bear with the failings of the weak, and not to please ourselves. Each of us should please his neighbor for his good, to build him up.� (Romans 15:1) While not every Christian is weak in faith and will, all Christians have weaknesses. Coincidentally, the weakness of the average male is sexuality. When girls who choose certain outfits confront the average male, he is forced into a battle with Satan---sometimes right in the church! Men and women alike are oppressed by the world on a daily basis by many temptations, most especially by sexual temptation. Many Christians use church and worship services as a way of escaping the world and its temptations�only to find themselves tempted further in many ways. Hopefully no one will see this writing as picking on women; it is merely to advise them on how they can help themselves and others. In making the decision to cover up, they can help themselves by showing that they are worthy of respect, and they help others by making the church--and the world�a less tempting place for everyone.
Surely there are certain individuals who will say, after reading this article, �As long as more people are coming into the church, let them wear what they want.� Naturally, it is important for people to come to the church, but if a church allows a person�s individual values to be placed above common morality, it no longer serves God, but man. This will then corrupt both the church and the souls of its congregants. Therefore, before Christians don certain suits or outfits on Sunday morning, they should ask themselves: �Will I glorify God wearing this?�
- Devin Love-Andrews