Just. Didn't. Happen.
Oh well! Happy Tuesday!
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We are half way there. Fifteen more days and it will be May 1!
Today is an interesting topic and I will fill you in a little bit on why I chose it. There are so many of these conviction issues that are assumed to be across the board for different circles of people. For example, Conservative Christians are often times thought of to all have the same mind set on dating, clothing, childbearing, etc. Not true. Convictions are grown from your personal relationship with Christ. They are not something laid on you based on the morals you hold, the family you were born into, of the political party you align yourself with.
That being said, why have chosen not to wear skirts/dresses all the time?
The short answer, it was never a Biblical issue for me. I never gleaned from God's Word that ladies were to wear skirts/dresses only. Simply put I don't feel like it's an obedience issue.
The long answer, we need to take a look at Scripture.
For starters the one time God speaks about what we are and are not to wear is found in Deuteronomy. It is at a time where God is establishing Himself and His laws over His people. For chapters we see the ground work for what made up Jewish law. The mention of clothing is found in chapter 22. It is simply stated in one verse. No more. The verse before it is instructing them on their brothers' donkeys, and the verse after is instructing them on handling young birds. One sentence, broken by a comma. Men don't wear girl cloths, and ladies, don't wear men's. Simple, right?
Unfortunately, or fortunately this is where there is much confusion and where the convictions divide people. Understanding history allows us to see that the separating factors for ladies' and men's clothing was fabric choice, colors, and accresories. They all wore "dresses." For pants to be the dividing item just wasn't what I understood from this.
What I discovered in all this was that for my relationship with God, He was more into my heart than my habit. It wasn't what has donned on the outside as much as it was a direct result of what was occurring inwardly.
In First Timothy Paul goes into details about members of the church. His words on ladies' dress are modest, respectable, self-controlled and submission.
We see in First Peter chapter two how the Body is to carry out authority starting with God. We see at the end of the chapter how servants are to submit to masters and Paul eases right over to chapter three with one word, "likewise." We as ladies are instructed, again, to be respectable, pure, quiet, and gentle.
Proverbs thirty-one lists out a ton of qualities of a woman and the mention of her clothing is that they are fine linen and purple...and that is mentioned once. The rest of the chapter goes on to explain that she is dressed in strength, dignity, confidence, and capability.
So in my studies and what I have been brought to by way of conviction is that pants or no pants don't make the heart a clean and pure thing. My clothing can be an act of worship and by dressing, what I understand to be, modestly, is an outflow of my heart. That is not to say that those who have gathered that dresses/skirts are wrong. Not at all. Like I said from the start, this is a personal conviction area. Not a scriptural instruction.
I am looking forward to the month of May because it forces my hand in the femininity department. I am in a thirty day day course of seeking to don my lady'ness.
What are your thoughts? Are you a pants wearer or all skirts/dresses?
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