3. Dress Modestly and Serve Extravangantly, 1 Timothy 2:9-10

3. Dress Modestly, Serve Extravagantly

1 Timothy 2:9-10 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,

I moved the end of this post to the beginning. I want to make sure you didn't get tired of reading and skip this part...

K and A, you know me... I don't agree with the painted nails and eyelids, ornaments in your hair or on your ears (or other areas). I won't call all of them sinful acts, but I will say they are unneeded. As Adam Clarke says it is the argument either of a shallow mind, or of a vain and corrupted heart.

On the flip side, I do agree that you should spend an extravagant amount of time beautifying your heart. Instead of piercing your ear, nose, or tongue, allow the Word to pierce your heart.  Ornate it with the jewels of Scripture. Make up your demeanor so it's all nice and pretty, then everyone will desire your presence. I encourage you to take note from your mother. She is well kept, and clean. Dresses respectively and doesn't draw attention to herself rather she draws attention to God. She is nice looking because she loves people and cares for them. She loves God and serves him and others. You would do well to follow her example.

~Dad

Normally you two do well in this area. Be careful to never let the world squeeze you into its mold.

Although I want to talk about dress and adornment here, I don't want to be bogged down on that subject. After a little research I see that the words used by Paul talk about specific Grecian dress of the time. The conservative stola was basically a dress that cover from the neckline to the feet. Slits were made for the head and the arms where sleeves could be added. An immodest dress had slits up to the knee worn mostly by children and immodest women (Clarke). I suppose that this verse in the original Greek is where some people teach that ladies should only wear dresses.

Listed in these verses is also a talk on adornment. Both Paul and Peter address this issue as does many other scripture in general. Ornate hair designs, jewelry, and expensive clothing are mentioned by Paul as a problem for the society of that time period. It is the same today. The money spent on beauty products (cosmetics) in America would solve our hunger problem ($7.6 Billion in 2016). That doesn't even cover jewelry purchase ($31.4 Billion in 2016). Wow!

But more important that all this is what we could do instead of spending time and money on beautifying ourselves... spend more time with the Lord. Imagine the difference if we spent all that on personal spiritual growth, using our money for tithing and helping those we see in need. What good deeds could we accomplish? How solid our life in Christ would be if we spent our time and money on spiritual things.

So, dress modestly with propriety but serve extravagantly!