Dress Like a Princess

Ephesians 5:25-27 Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.

In Epesians 5, God compares the marriage relationship to the loving relationship between Christ and His church. The husband is to represent Christ. As women, we have the beautiful privelege and responsability of representing to the world what kind of wife the church should be to Christ! When people see us, they should see what a pure church should be like. Some of you may think, "I'm not married so how does this verse apply to me?" Guess what! You are married, if you've accepted Jesus as your Lord.

Isaiah 54:5 For thy Maker is thine husband; the LORD of hosts is his name; and thy Redeemer the Holy One of Israel; The God of the whole earth shall he be called.

All of us are wives, weather we have an earthly husband or not. We're the bride of Christ. Isn't that an amazing thought, that Jesus would want to claim us as His bride?! The Prince of Peace, Jesus, wants us to be His princess. Today, we're going to talk a little bit about what our Prince wants us to wear - how we can dress like princesses.

After Shawn asked me to marry him, I started looking for a special dress to wear for the wedding. I was so excited, I loved Shawn so much, and I wanted to look beautiful for him. I had to look hard to find the right dress, but it was very important to me to have the right dress to wear for my husband. Just the same, our Husband Jesus is coming soon, and I want to have just the right dress on for Him. Let's look in the Bible at some verses were Jesus tells us the kind of dress He would like us to wear.

Deuteronomy 22:5 The woman shall not wear that which pertaineth unto a man, neither shall a man put on a woman's garment: for all that do so are abomination unto the LORD thy God.

Years ago, a woman's clothes looked very different from a man's clothes. But as time passes, women's and men's clothing has become more and more similar. With the change in women's clothing has come a change in women's characters. Women are becoming more bold, and aggressive. Men are rarely seen as the priest of the home, as God intended. Women many times "wear the pants" in the home. This isn't God's plan. Let's look at some more verses that show us God's plan for our dress. (The words in brackets are definitions that I looked up to understand the old English words better.)

1Timothy 2:9-10 In like manner also, that women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with shamefacedness [downcast eyes, bashfulness towards men] and sobriety [sanity, self-control]; not with broided hair, or gold, or pearls, or costly array; But (which becometh women professing godliness) with good works.

1Peter 3:3-4 Whose adorning let it not be that outward adorning of plaiting the hair, and of wearing of gold, or of putting on of apparel; But let it be the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price.

This is the way that our Prince, our Husband, Jesus wants us to dress.

I want to tell you about myself. When I was around 15 years old, my dad used to talk to me about my clothes. He told me I should dress more modestly, and he told me that it really affects men to see a woman dressed immodestly. I didn't believe him. After dad told me that, while in my high school, I heard some of my guy friends talking about a girl I knew. I was disgusted at their perverted talk. I went and told them they shouldn't talk about her like that. They said, "She shouldn't dress like that, if she doesn't want to be talked about!" I was shocked. To me she looked relatively modest. Her skirt came to her knees. Her shirt was high cut, had sleeves, and didn't show her tummy, though it was quite tight. But that was enough to make these young men talk. After that I realized that dad was right. When I gave my life to the Lord, I realized that now I was a daughter of the King of the whole universe! I was the bride of Jesus Christ! My body belongs to Him! And I realized that I should look like His bride in the way I dressed. My dress could be a beautiful gift to my Lord, showing Him that I know I belong to Him, and I want to cover my body and keep it pure for Him. I also realized that I didn't want to be the cause of any man's sin. Jesus said that if a man just lusts after a woman that's sin. If I walk around in a short dress, and tight shirt, and a man lusts after me and is lost eternally, that's terrible! I'd hate to come to the judgement and have Jesus say, "Adriela, because of the way you dressed, these men fell into the sin of lust, and now they are lost!" But how beautiful it would be if in the judgment Jesus could say, "Because you dressed modestly, these men that were weak and could have fallen into lust, didn't, and now they are saved eternally!" Wow! Wouldn't that be amazing! We are daughters of the King, the bride of Christ, and by our dress we can show the world the beautiful purity that the church of Christ should have. We can also help our brothers in Christ to stay heavenly minded.

Another very special thing about dressing modestly is that guys will respect you. By covering my body, I show that I respect myself as a daughter of God, and that I am not a girl to flirt with. If you're a woman that men respect, it'll also help you to get a respectable man as your husband. A respectable man will appreciate a woman who is modestly dressed. Think about it this way, you can be a very special gift to the man that God has chosen for you. The amount of your body that you keep covered show's how large of a gift you want to give to your husband some day. If you're already married it's a gift you give to your husband everyday. My husband loves it that I cover up. It's very special to him to be the only one to see me. That's actually one of the things he said he noticed about me. He told me that if I hadn't dressed modestly, he wouldn't have paid any attention to me. Wow! I'm so thankful, because I think Shawn is the most wonderful man in the world, and I'm so glad that he did notice me. I try to dress modestly because I want to give my Husband Jesus, and my earthly husband Shawn a very special gift, so I make sure to cover myself well so I can be only for Jesus and for Shawn. This is our privilege as women.

There's another aspect about our dress that we also need to talk about, and that is who do you want as your god? God has said, "Thou shalt have no other gods before Me." Fashion is a god, that many people worship. Satan is the one that inspires the fashions, that's why the fashionable clothes is showing more and more skin. And fashion is a very cruel god. I remember feeling like I had to find out just what kind of clothes to wear, because I wanted to look just right. I worried about my clothes, I spent a lot of time in front of the mirror fixing my hair, my makeup, my clothes, etc. Fashion makes women slaves. Now I feel so free. Jesus has freed me from that slavery. Now He's my God.

Fashion also takes people's money. I used to spend money on so many things that now I realize I don't need. Another thing fashion does is it treats people badly who are out of style. If Jesus is our God, that doesn't happen. God told the children of Israel...

Deuteronomy 12:28-31 Observe and hear all these words which I command thee, that it may go well with thee, and with thy children after thee for ever, when thou doest that which is good and right in the sight of the LORD thy God. When the LORD thy God shall cut off the nations from before thee, whither thou goest to possess them, and thou succeedest them, and dwellest in their land; Take heed to thyself that thou be not snared by following them, after that they be destroyed from before thee; and that thou enquire not after their gods, saying, How did these nations serve their gods? even so will I do likewise. Thou shalt not do so unto the LORD thy God: for every abomination to the LORD, which he hateth, have they done unto their gods...

We're not supposed to look to the world to learn how to dress. If we do, we're serving the god of the world, Satan. God tells us what will happen to those who are vain, serving the god of fashion.

Isaiah 3:16 Moreover the LORD saith, Because the daughters of Zion are haughty, and walk with stretched forth necks and wanton eyes, walking and mincing as they go, and making a tinkling with their feet:
Isa 3:17 Therefore the Lord will smite with a scab the crown of the head of the daughters of Zion, and the LORD will discover their secret parts.
Isa 3:18 In that day the Lord will take away the bravery of their tinkling ornaments about their feet, and their cauls [a netting for the hair], and their round tires like the moon [a round pendant for the neck],
Isa 3:19 The chains, and the bracelets, and the mufflers [a long veil],
Isa 3:20 The bonnets, and the ornaments of the legs, and the headbands, and the tablets, and the earrings,
Isa 3:21 The rings, and nose jewels,
Isa 3:22 The changeable suits of apparel, and the mantles [a cloak], and the wimples [a wide cloak], and the crisping pins [purses],
Isa 3:23 The glasses [hand-mirrors], and the fine linen, and the hoods, and the vails.
Isa 3:24 And it shall come to pass, that instead of sweet smell there shall be stink; and instead of a girdle a rent; and instead of well set hair baldness; and instead of a stomacher a girding of sackcloth; and burning instead of beauty.
Isa 3:25 Thy men shall fall by the sword, and thy mighty in the war.
Isa 3:26 And her gates shall lament and mourn; and she being desolate shall sit upon the ground.

God hates this vanity and pride because it turns people's hearts away from Him. God's commands are loving and good. If we obey Him it will go well for us and our children. But He warns us not to serve the gods of the other nations. Fashion is the god of many many people in this world, and our loving God warns us not to serve the gods that the rest of the world serves, and not to ask how the world does things. So in our dress, our entertainment, our food, our friends, books, music, in everything, we should ask, "what does God want me to do?" His ways are for our good. He has high hopes and plans for us! Wonderful plans that we can't even imagine! We're told in the Bible that eye hasn't seen, or ear heard the things that God has prepared for those who love Him! I want to chose God's plans for me.

• As women, we can show the world the beautiful purity that Jesus is looking for in His bride.

Or, by disobeying God, we can make the world think that God's church is just like the rest of the world.

• As women, we can help protect our brothers in Christ, helping them to keep pure thoughts. We can help weak men not to fall into adultery, because the first step to adultery is lust.

Or, by dressing immodestly we can lead our brothers into sin, and possibly be the cause for their eternal loss.

• As godly women, we can give the beautiful gift of purity to our Husband Jesus, and if we get married, to our earthly husband. We can keep ourselves covered to show that we are reserving ourselves wholly for Him.

Or, if we dress immodestly, and we get married, who knows if our husband will be faithful. If he looked at you, what happens when another pretty girl comes a long who's dressed immodestly?

• Most importantly, as modest, pure women we can show the world that the Lord is our God, we are His special people, different from the world.

Or, we can show that we have the same god as the world does, fashion. And no one will see any difference between us and the rest of the world.

What do you chose? I chose to dress like a princess. I'm a daughter of the King of Kings, a bride of the Prince of Princes! I want the world to know by my dress, that I am the Lord's. If you also want this please take a moment to pray and tell God that you commit to following His ways, dressing like His princess.