Does Clothing Matter?

Last night I attended a meeting to inform us about sex trafficking in our country. There are several things I could write about from what was talked about, but I will focus on one thing at a time. During the last part of the seminar, the speaker shared about her experiences of going into strip clubs to rescue those trapped in that trade. She gave us ten guidelines for involvement in that type of ministry. The very first requirement dealt with clothing, what to wear when you are on mission.

Here were her rules:

1. No cleavage showing

2. No sleeveless shirts

3. No short skirts

4. No see-through fabrics

5. (And I would add, which I think the speaker would agree) No skin-tight clothes

She made a strong point that as believers bringing Light into a dark place, we must be different and not dress in anyway like the employees or the patrons of those places. We are to be visibly different.

But then she said, if you want to dress that way in your own settings, when you go out to dinner, or go to parties, or ________________ fill-in-the-blank with your own life activities, that’s your prerogative and she would have no judgment or condemnation. Well, I agree that Christ did not come to condemn, nor are we to condemn; as Romans 14 says, we each stand or fall before our own Master. But I had to wonder: If God calls us to be holy in ALL our ways as He is holy, why are we not called to be different in whatever setting we find ourselves in? Isn’t that the essence of the Gospel—total transformation? Isn’t that the meaning and purpose of sanctification: to be set apart from the world, in the world but not of it? Aren’t we “on mission” all the time?

O God, make us a set-apart people. Teach us to walk in holiness in ALL our ways, in ALL our activities. Make us holy as You are holy.