Devotion 16 – Be your Brother’s Keeper!
1Tim.2:9 – “I want women to be modest in their appearance. They should wear decent and appropriate clothing…” (NLT)
Most women are confused about the thin line between modest femininity and flirtatious provocativeness. Men are visual creatures. That means they are easily stimulated by sight. Hence, women should dress modestly so that they do not feed men negatively and tempt men by their dressing. Women should examine their motives and goals for the way they dress. Are they showing the grace and beauty of womanhood to glorify God or are they trying to draw undue attention to themselves and lure men sexually?
Consider Paul’s advice in 1Cor.8:13 - “Therefore, if what I eat causes my brother to fall into sin, I will never eat meat again, so that I will not cause him to fall”. Sister, you are in a sense “your brother’s keeper”. Do not cause your brother to stumble because of your inappropriate dressing.
Godly women are modest women. Sometimes women are so provocative in their dressing that they drive God-loving men away and attract the wrong kind of men. How you dress makes a statement about your heart.
Prov.11:22 – “A beautiful woman who lacks discretion is like a gold ring in a pig’s snout”
It is a natural tendency for a pig to "root" or "dig" with their snout. Under natural conditions, pigs may spend 75% of their daily activity engaged in rooting. Would it then be prudent to fashion a precious gold ring and put it in the snout of a pig knowing that it would be subjected to the filth of the mud? By the same token, what a waste and shame for God's beautiful daughter to subject herself and body to the filth and defilement that comes through non-discretion!
What is discretion? It is the ability to discern or distinguish what is right, befitting, or advisable for one’s own conduct and be proper at all times and Bible use it to warn that the lacking of discretion can turn a beautiful woman into an ugly pig. Just as a gold ring has no place in a pig’s snout, impropriety has no place in a truly beautiful daughter of God.
River vs Flood
What is the difference between a river and a flood?
A river is flowing water that stays in one place; where else a flood is water that runs everywhere, destroying everything. A river is flowing water controlled by banks, and a flood is flowing water without any control.
A river is always a blessing as provides water for irrigation, hydropower, leisure fishing, swimming, enjoyment, etc. On the other hand, flood destroys crops and houses, and pollutes the drinking water, bring diseases, etc.
Flowing water, either from the mountains or from the rains, can be a blessing or a curse. The difference between good and bad is not in the water itself, but in the control of the water. If the water gets uncontrollable and moves outside of the riverbanks, it becomes destructive.
Our sexual life is like running water. Sex can be great blessing but it can also be very destructive. Blessing when it is within the ‘riverbank’ of a marriage relationship, as it fuses intimacy and brings joy and comfort to each other. Destructive when it is before marriage, or outside of a marriage relationship with different partners, or even within marriage but used against the desire of the husband or wife.
God creates sex to be a blessing for us but He has set appropriate boundaries in His Word. He has given sex so that a husband and wife can enjoy each other, so that they will remain attracted to each other. Sadly enough, many people all over the world have not been respecting God’s guidelines for their sexual lives. They have been living out their sexual desires outside of God’s created ‘riverbank’ and selfishly been using others to gratify their desires. Because of that, millions of people today are reaping fruits of destruction; suffering from sexual diseases, emotional scars and trauma, and worse, lots of spiritual problems.