Examine Yourself: Are you doing what you condemn?

Fair warning....I don’t feel very good and this might be a bit more blunt than I usually am.  I am not saying it to be mean however, but hopefully to inspire some self examination.

You get upset and frazzled about men looking at your body, yet at the same time you have shirtless pictures of muscular men on your FB wall?  Witty sayings on the pics don't make them any cleaner.  You don't think those are as stumblingblock to other women?  I am here to tell you they absolutely are.  

Even more, do you not see the overall disconnect in your logic?  You are choosing to do the same thing you condemn and dislike.   You call men names and moan of the the way they are.  You feel they see women inappropriately.  You don't want to be a piece of meat to be devoured.  They look at you, call to you, smile at you and you become angry.  You feel used and like an object.  However, how is that picture of the sweaty dude you giggled at and maybe thought of him as "eye candy" any different?  Are you not treating him the same way you DON'T want to be treated?!  It is a fool who mocks another's sin when they are doing the same thing!
 
It is very much like those who knock a man for looking at porn, then fail to abstain from romance novels that have the same content.  Written format can create just as much sin as visual format.  If you are going to chastise and mock others for sin, make sure you aren't doing the same thing just in a sugar coated form.  Please don’t sugar coat abomination.  Women like to make things sound sweet, thus the term "eye candy"...but come on...call it for what it is.

Here is the next line of thought.  I know there is a degree of subjectivity of the word modesty.  I get that.   The Bible does require modesty in no uncertain terms.  Humans and believers will argue what constitutes modesty until we are blue in the face.  Some of us just see things differently there.  

Ultimately it is between each person and God.  Here is a thought though, make sure that your own opinion of your modesty standards meet the Biblical one.  You don't want to compare it to the cultural standard.  Compare only to the Biblical one.  That is the best advice I know of.  Don’t worry over anyone else’s standard, just make sure you meet God’s.  

Getting too much unwanted attention can be a sign that you might be showing too much for free.  Don’t show off the goods, then get upset if someone window shopped.  Now I realize it is possible to be extremely modest and still get a little unwanted attention.  I am not saying it means you are for certain dressing inappropriately.  It is simply something that needs checked and examined if you are having this happen on a regular basis.
 
Finally, make sure you are approachable for other sisters in Christ to talk to you about these things.  Do you have a tendency to get highly upset anytime someone suggests you might want to watch your walk and witness.  When is the last time you listened to and weighed a correction examining yourself to see if the person might a point?  Do you start making posts about “how dare anyone judge me”...etc...  Resistance to even the hint of correction is a FLAMING sign that you aren’t walking the narrow path you should be!!!  

Is it politically correct to admonish someone else.  No.  

Should we care about what is popular in such matters?  Nope.  

It is however Biblical to correct to help one another along the narrow path.  That is a GOOD thing.  Not something we just bristle at and scorn.  

Yes, at one time or another I have been guilty of the same stuff.  It has opened my eyes to some of this stuff though.   Perfection I will likely never attain in the time I have left on this ol' earth.  Shucks most humans couldn't agree on what even defines perfection.  

God is perfect!!! Study Him and try to be like Him!!!!  Walk the narrow path He laid out for us in His Word.

Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?  ~2 Corinthians 13:5

Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye. ~ Matthew 7:5


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