Chameleons

     A big part about modesty is showing everyone Who you belong to. We can see that in 1 Timothy 2:9-10 which is read a LOT when talking aboutmodesty. I mean, modesty is just not really talked about all that much in the New Testament. Or at least not directly anyway. That doesn't meant that it's any less of a big deal, but it's just so simple that it really doesn't need much explaining or repeating. It's pretty simple. Dress modestly. But today I will be talking about blending in with the world.

     It can be so easy to want to blend in with the world. The fashion styles that I'm seeing a lot is super skinny jeens, super tight tops, or super low tops, showing stomachs, short-shorts, short skirts, etc. And, I'll admit, some of those clothes are pretty cute. Like, once there was this dress that I saw at Macey's, and it was in my price range (which like, never happens. EVER.) and it had a simple blue top on it, and then the bottom part was was real pretty, it was cream colored with the same colored lace over it, it was SO PRETTY! But it went a good four inches above my knees. I was pretty frusterated (and then later I saw another girl wearing the same dress, but it went to her knees, and I was a bit frustrated  because I realized that if I had a different body type then I could've totally been able to wear it) but even though it was fashionable, and cute, I couldn't wear it. James 4:4 says, "You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore, whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God."

     Okay, so we all know what enmity is, and if you don't, it's basically means being an enemy towards a person, place, thing, whatever noun you wish to use. Do we really want to be an enemy of God's? Like, an enemy isn't just someone who kinda doesn't like someone else. No! An enemy is someone who hates another person, or who wants to kill them or something Now, we can't really kill God. Kind of impossible. But what do you think nonbelievers are trying to do? Disprove God, right? Kill any thought of Him. Being friends of the world, or even wanting to, is being an enemy of God's. So yes, it can be tempting to buy those cute shorts, even though they don't really cover anything, or, really, this verse applies to every sin, (but since this is a modesty blog, I figured I'd use it to write about modesty) but either way, when we are tempted to do something, and our best excuse is, "But EVERYBODY'S doing it!!" Well, is that really a good reason? It can be easy to want to blend in, but we should profess godliness as we are told in 1 Timothy 2:10. How can we profess godliness if we look just like the world?

     

Judging VS Judgement

     We live in a world that tends to take Matthew 7:1 not only out of contexts, but also a little TOO literally. Now, don't take me wrong. I'm not saying that following the Bible 100% to the letter is wrong. I am not saying that at all. I am saying just the opposite of that. I am saying that this verse is taken out of contexts a lot, and if you read the passages around it, it doesn't mean at all that you should never say or think that anything is right or wrong ever. In fact, just saying that is making a judgement about all people who make judgements, which I find kind of ironic. 

     If you look in John 7:24, it reads, "Do not judge by appearance, but judge with right judgement." What? What is this? A verse in the Bible telling use to judge?! It can't be!! But yes, it can. This verse is telling us to judge people not based on their looks, but based on the inside. Now, there's a difference between judging and making judgements. This is talking about making a judgement so that you don't hang around the wrong people. And the Bible does teach about that in Matthew 13 when Jesus tells the parable about the seeds. We don't want to get choked out by bad influences. 

     It's example time. Say a group of your friends want you to go to a party where there may or may not (but definitely will) be drinking involved. Now, right then you have to make a judgement. Going to that party is, as you know, a sin. Are you saying that those people are definitely not going to heaven? No. That is making a judgement. Also, if you decide that hanging out with those people is probably not the best idea because they are constantly tempting you to do something wrong, is that judging, or judgement?  That is making a judgement. That is what John 7:24 is talking about. It doesn't matter how popular, good looking, rich, or funny they are. If they are a bad influence, then they shouldn't be huge parts of your life. Now, completely shunning them because of their choices isn't very Christian like, and does fall under the judging category. There does have to have an even balance, but that doesn't mean that you shouldn't make judgements on what you know is right or wrong.

     I'm going to use another example, but this time it'll be a less common, more extreme case that doesn't really have to do with any biblical principals, but still applies. Say you were a murder suspect, (like I said, very extreme and I doubt this would happen to you) and you were being chased by a bunch of cops. You're running as fast as you can, and all of a sudden there's a fork in the road. You look at each road briefly, and see that one has a bunch of cop cars at the end, and the other has a nice little hiding place where you could sneak in undetected. Which way are you going to go? I don't know about you, but I'd go to the second road with the nice little hiding spot. What made you choose the second road? Probably not wanting to get caught by the police, right?! That's what happens when we make judgements. We don't want to get caught up in sin, so we HAVE to make judgements so we don't end up doing the wrong thing. And this isn't just with people, either. We have to do this with every decision we make. 

     So, just because someone tells you that you're judging them for doing something wrong, just remember that as long as you're judging righteously, you're still following God's word.

What is Modesty?

We have all been told to dress modestly. I hear it all the time. We need to dress modestly. But how often are we actually told what it is? That is what I will be explaining to you in this article. 

     Modesty is dressing, acting, and speaking in a way that doesn't bring glory to you, but to God. Let me tell you what I mean. In 1 Timothy 2:9 it says, "Likewise also that women should adorn themselves in respectable apparel, with modesty and self-control, not with braided hair and gold or pearls or costly attire," This is where we see that we shouldn't bring glory to ourselves. Now, this isn't saying that it's wrong to look pretty. Back in the time of the ancient Romans and such when this was written, rich people had a LOT of servants. Like, a LOT. So what would they do all day if they didn't have to actually do anything? What they would do is they'd get all dolled up, then walk around the city trying to attract attention to themselves. They would decorate their hair, and put all their finest jewels, and sometimes things like fine china in their hair to show off how much they had. Now, in common days, this seems silly. No one does that now, right?  Have you ever gone to the store, or gone online and seen something like, "Look at _______'s new daring outfit!" or, "Look at _____'s new bold look!" in an article or magazine cover? Women of the world will try to dress so inappropriately, just to draw attention to themselves. This is exactly what this verse is saying NOT to do. 

     Now, if we shouldn't bring attention to ourselves, then who SHOULD we draw attention to?! Well, if you read on in 1 Timothy 2:10 it says, "but with what is proper for women who profess godliness- with good works." We need to dress in a way that is proper for women who profess godliness. What this is saying is people need to see God when they see how we dress, how we speak, and how we act. Modesty isn't about you. Modesty is about people seeing God in you. If you go to a beach and you see a thousand women wearing little bikinis and I told you that one of them was a Christian and told you to try figuring out which one it was just by looking, how easy do you think that'd be? I don't know about you but I might have some difficulty finding her. As Christians, we need to be set apart from the world. Not part of it.

A Perfect Man

James 3:2 says, "For we all stumble in many ways. And if anyone does not stumble in what he says, he is a perfect man, able also to bridle his whole body." One thing that I've noticed (and I know that this kind of goes without saying) is that women love to gossip. Now, not all women gossip. I'm not saying that at all. I know a lot of girls who don't. Or try not to. And that is wonderful. But it is so easy, isn't it?? When you have that one piece of information that just makes things so interesting and you just wanna tell everyone you can, isn't it just so easy to justify it and tell everyone? It sure is for me. But this verse says that if you are able to control your tongue, you've got nothing else to worry about. Because once you've learned how to control your speech, you've already learned to control the hardest part and the rest should be easy compared to it. Wouldn't life be so much easier and better if we only talked good about other people? I mean, imagine that for a second. There wouldn't be any fights, rumors, miss judgements, etc. and when there's none of that, then there's no desire for steeling, murder, lying, etc. Why? Because everyone would get along! 

     My brother and I used to argue a LOT. Like, all the time. And I admit, being the little sister, I was kind of a pain, and may have tried irritating him sometimes, but after a while we started talking nicer to each other, and now we get along so well, I couldn't tell you the last time we even had an argument. Why? Because we learned to talk to each other kindly instead of every other thing we say being an insult. I'm not saying that we're perfect. Not at all. But if we could be like that to everyone, how easy do you think life would be? This is why we are told to be kind to our enemies. It can be so easy to do nothing but talk bad about people who don't like us or who we don't like. But if we look in 1 Samuel 24:3-5 says, "And he came to the sheepfolds by the way, where there was a cave, and Saul went in to relieve himself. Now David and his men were sitting in the innermost parts of the cave. And the men of David said to him, 'Here is the day of which the Lord said to you, "Behold, I will give your enemy into your hand, and you shall do to him as it shall seem good to you."' And David arose and stealthily cut off a corner of Saul's robe." Okay, so here David is given pretty much free reign to do whatever he wants to Saul who has tried murdering him on several occasions. I don't know about you, but no one has attempted to murder me on several occasions. If David was able to spare Saul's life, even though he knew that Saul was trying to kill him, then I'm sure that we can resist the temptation to kill someone's reputation or friendship with someone. 

     We were given the ability to speak (or communicate in some way) not so that we could talk bad about people, but so we could build them up, and so that we could drive people TO Christianity. Not away from it. So next time you're talking to someone about someone else, make sure it's in a positive way. Even if they are mean to you, you'll always feel worse about someone when you talk bad about them, so why bother?? 

The Temptation of Jesus

     Most of the time when we think of the temptation of Jesus, we think of Matthew 4 when Jesus was tempted in the wilderness for 40 days. But today I'll be talking about the over all temptation of Jesus. When we talk about how perfect Jesus was, it can be easy to forget just how impressive that is. As we can see in Hebrews 4:15, Jesus was tempted in every way that anyone every has or will be tempted. It says, "For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin." Think about that for a second. I don't know about you, but I'm not exactly tempted to murder people, or to lie constantly, drink, gamble, etc. I mean, those things just aren't things that appeal to me. Now, I do have my weaknesses. Everyone does. But most people are not always tempted by the same things. Some people are tempted in some ways, others are tempted in other ways. But Jesus was tempted in all ways. But without sin as we can see in Hebrews 4:15, 1 Peter 2:22, and several other verses.

     Why? Why was Jesus tempted in every way possible? Well, if we look back in Hebrews 4:15, the first part of it says, "For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses," This is saying that because Jesus was tempted in every way we have been, then He can understand what we're going through, and also so that we can't have an excuse for sinning. 

     1 Corinthians 10:13 says, "No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful and will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation He will also provide a way of escape, that you may be able to endure it." This verse can be proven by the fact that Jesus, as a human being, was tempted in every way but always found a way of escape because God never gave any man more than he can handle. Yes, Jesus did have the capability to be perfect as we see in 1 Peter 2:22 and man does not as we read in Romans 3:23. But we always have a way of escape. There has never been a perfect being on this earth besides Jesus. But that is exactly why Jesus died on the cross. 

     So next time you think that no one understands, or that no one has gone through what you have, remember Hebrews 4:15 and that Jesus was also tempted but without sin. 

Our Christian Lives: Christianity Isn't a Safety Net

     Everyone goes through tough times. And when we do, it's easy to pray and ask for help. I mean, we should. But what about the rest of the time? What about when nothing is going on? Do we still study and pray daily? Do we still live our lives like we should, or is it just when we want something? Christianity isn't just a safety net that we can pull out when we want something. It's something that we need to live every day. 

     In 1 Thessalonians 5:17 it tells us to pray without ceasing. That doesn't just mean to pray just when you want or when you need something. You should pray during those times, but you should pray during every other time too. That also applies to studying, and living the Christian life. Not just when it's convenient. 

     What if Jesus only lived the Christian life when it was convenient for Him? First of all, He wouldn't have been perfect, so He couldn't have been a good enough sacrifice. But also, do you think that dying on that cross was very convenient? I'm guessing not. I mean, I wouldn't want to. Jesus was a perfect role model. Hebrews 4:15 says, "For we do not have a High Priest who in unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin." Jesus knows and understands everything we go through. Notice how it says that He was tempted in every way that anyone ever will. That means He was tempted to murder, steel, lie, everything. If He had acted on every temptation because that was the convenient way to do things, but when something bad happened to Him He'd immediately go back to being perfect, do you really think that that's what God would've wanted? No! That's not what He wants from us either.

     Christianity isn't something that we do once a week on Sunday for a couple hours and then go home and do whatever we want. Christianity is how we live our lives on a daily basis. It's not a safety net for when we have problems, but a way of life that God set up for everyone to have. 

     

Our Christian Lives Part 1: Running the Race

What if only one person could go to heaven? I mean, think about that. I was at a convention center this past week in Tennessee at a place called Polishing the Pulpit. For those of you who don't know what it is, basically it's a little taste of heaven. There were about 3,000 people there I think they said, and all day there are lectures from several wonderful Christian men and women. They have men's classes, women's classes, teen classes, preacher's classes, elder's classes, deacon's classes, youth minister's classes, basically, if it exists there's a class for it. Anyway, I was sitting in a class when a thought struck me, "What if only one person could go to heaven?" and then I realized that I probably wouldn't make it. Out of the billions upon billions of people who have lived, are living now, and will live, I don't think I'd make it with those odds! It'd probably be someone like Abraham or Paul or someone. Or if it were to be someone from my time it'd still probably be someone else. And then I thought about 1 Corinthians 9:24 which says, "Do you not know that in a race all runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it."

     My brother used to be part of a track team. And he LOVED it. But every morning he'd get up at 6 am before school, run 1 or 2 miles, go to school, then go to practice and run even more. And in every track meet he was in he used all those hours of training and ran with his goal being first place just like everyone else. He didn't just think, "Well, I'm part of the race. That's good enough. If I get last place at least I did something." No! Why? Because he spent all that time training, and then of course he used it! That is exactly what this verse is talking about. That is how our Christian lives should be. We should study God's word daily, and live our lives like only one person can go to heaven. I'll tell you what, there are times when it's easy to forget about this verse and fall back. It can be easy to get tired or forget that we're in a race. Now this isn't saying that we need to try to be superior to everyone. But that we need to try to be as perfect as we possibly can so that we can obtain the prize when the race is over. Tomorrow I'll be talking about why we run the race, and how we can run the race for the wrong reasons. But today I want to encourage you to train for the race daily by reading your Bible, and to live in a way that if only one person could go to heaven, it'd be you. Because that is exactly what we're told to do here in 1 Corinthians 9:24.