Beaches and bikinis

Memorial Day is only a few days away and it traditionally kicks off the summer season full of beaches and bikinis.

There’s little doubt that our level of acceptable clothing shrinks as time goes by. Some will tell us that modesty is relative. They say that the sight of a woman’s ankle 50 years ago would have been immodest, but today it is perfectly acceptable. This makes drawing a line impossible.

But the fact is we can draw a line between modesty and immodesty. Whenever a person dresses so as to excite sexual desire in others, that person’s clothing is immodest and sinful. This goes for women and men. This principle reflects what the Bible teaches about modesty and does not change with the culture or climate.

Paul instructed Timothy in 1 Timothy 2:9, “In like manner also, that women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with shamefacedness and sobriety; not with broided hair, or gold, or pearls, or costly array.” Also, Peter said in 1 Peter 3:3-4, “Whose adorning let it not be that outward adorning of plaiting the hair, and of wearing of gold, or of putting on of apparel; But let it be the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price.”

Men and women who wear immodest clothing are not ignorant of its effects on one another. Christians are commanded to be modest and sensible in their dress so as to have favor with God. Christians abstain from every form of evil in their attire, demeanor, and speech (1 Thessalonians 5:22). Finally, Christians know that their life’s work is to exalt Christ and make it possible for them to shine as a light in a crooked and perverse generation (Philippians 2:15). This Memorial Day, skip the bikini or the revealing swimming trunks, and adorn your true, inner, godly self. 

Kyle Campbell