31 Movement

During the week of the popular Victoria's Secret Fashion Show, there was a war going on in my mind. I wanted to speak up about this issue, but I felt that it was the wrong time. So many young girls and women are looking to these models as the definition of beauty. The first thought I had when I saw so many people talking about it was: "A VS Fashion Show? What a great idea in a culture where women hate their bodies and men are disappointed when they see that their wives don't have fake, edited, airbrushed bodies like the VS models." I know that's a pretty brash statement, but can it really be argued with?

The things I have to say are going to be taken the wrong way by some. I will probably be viewed as "down-playing" real beauty simply because I am jealous or insecure or because I know I could never look like these girls. That is the farthest thing from the truth. I know what real beauty is and it isn't the fake beauty promoted by this fashion show or by our culture. (SIDE NOTE: How is it real beauty when many of their bras are designed to "add up to 3 cup sizes"? Isn't that fake?)

It is sad that so many girls idolize these models. It is unfortunate that so many guys encourage it. The fact is, a Christian's life should not and CANNOT be defined by this stuff. Am I saying it's wrong to shop/own VS? Not at all. To wear it because it is quality stuff that lasts is fine. I'll be the first to say that their stuff is made well. And within a marriage relationship, I see no problem with the lingerie. But to obsess over these models and to obsess over the outward appearance and to aim for more "sex appeal"? That is a problem. To promote this lifestyle is not okay.

I'm so thankful that this student at Baylor University speaks out about this issue. His voice should be heard across the nation. Girls and guys alike need to hear it, take it to heart, and live it.

Truthfully, the VS models may be "perfect" on the outside. But honestly, the lifestyles they live is ugly to God. The outside can be immaculate, shiny, and appealing. But if they don't respect themselves enough to save it for their husbands, the inside is probably pretty nasty. To prance across a stage with little to no clothing is not beautiful to God. It disgusts Him and it hurts Him.

To female readers, you are beautiful. And it is good for you to care about your appearance. I care about mine. I wear make-up. I enjoy dressing well. I even like to accessorize. And yes, I wear VS undergarments because it makes me feel confident and because it lasts better than other stuff. All of that is fine! But don't allow your outward appearance to become the most important thing to you. The most important thing is who you are. If you are the most beautiful girl on earth, it doesn't mean much to God unless you're living the way He wants you to. Fixing up on the outside is not wrong unless it becomes a priority over fixing up on the inside.

Here is a challenge I give both to myself and to other women: What if you spent as much time beautifying your heart as you spend in front of the mirror, beautifying your body everyday?

It won't be easy. You won't turn heads when you walk into a room. The attention-getters are the ones who are all glitz, glamour, and flesh. And they get the attention for a few seconds. However, the ones who live God's way will attract the guys who will love you for who you are. Living God's way will lead you to a Godly man and it will lead you to a lasting, thriving relationship with someone who sees your outward beauty, but values even more your inward beauty.

Think of yourself as a beautiful, perfect rose. When you dress provocatively and males see you, they mentally consume you. Each time you go out dressed this way, you are mentally consumed by a number of people. You are a rose, being handled and handled and handled. The rose will become crumpled and lose all of its petals. What is left for that special man you marry? Nothing but an old, ugly stem. You gave it away to everyone else-strangers you didn't even know. And now there is nothing special to give to your husband. Keep your rose pretty, beautiful, perfect, and pure. Have a special gift that is worth giving to your husband on your wedding night.

Be a Proverbs 31 woman.

This video is by a guy in college a Baylor, who isn't afraid to tell others what he is looking for in a woman:

Toilet Paper vs. Women?

America respects toilet paper MORE than America respects women.


That's right. You read the statement correctly. I said that America respects toilet paper more than America respects women. I was recently watching t.v. (which I RARELY do), and a Cottonelle commercial came on. I love Cottonelle. It's my favorite toilet paper. But the commercial they showed really blew my mind. In the commercial, a woman goes to use the restroom at a friend's house. She comes out, and expresses amazement that his toilet paper is "naked." She says, "Respect the roll." She accuses him of "taking his toilet paper for granted." The point is that "Toilet paper that nice deserves respect." Cottonelle has come out with toilet paper roll covers. (They're free, apparently.) And the commercial is encouraging respect for Cottonelle toilet paper. Toilet paper that good shouldn't be taken for granted, and deserves respect. It deserves to be "covered up."

What strikes me as odd is that the very woman who couldn't believe her friend wasn't "respecting the roll" likely doesn't even respect herself as much as she does the toilet paper. Because my guess is that she probably covers that toilet paper more than she does herself.

Is this ironic to anyone besides me? We live in a country where toilet paper deserves "respect," shouldn't be "taken for granted," and needs to be "covered." Yet our country does not believe that women deserve the same respect? Are women now degraded to something worse than toilet paper, of all things?

Honestly, am I less worthy than what you use to wipe your rear? (Sorry to be crass, but I want to make the point.) What kind of priorities does our country have? To respect toilet paper more than women?

It blows my mind that there can be hundreds of commercials that use the exposed bodies and seduction of women to sell their products (which are rarely even related to sexuality), clearly disrespecting women to the highest degree, and yet Cottonelle wants to encourage people to "respect the roll" by not letting it be naked. But women are naked on nearly every channel, billboard, magazine, and advertisement?

But let's think about this. Has the average American woman done anything to earn more respect than what toilet paper deserves? I think I can confidently say that toilet paper has never tempted a Christian man. Toilet paper has never dressed in a provocative way, seeking to tempt men who are working to be pure in thought and in action. Toilet paper does not carelessly make life difficult for men of God who want to be faithful to their wives. So why shouldn't toilet paper be more respectable than (many) women? Personally, I would prefer my husband to see toilet paper than for him to see the "world's sexiest woman." That roll of toilet paper is, frankly, more respectable than any woman who earns a label like that.

If you want to get the toilet paper roll cover, you won't offend me. But if you're going to "respect your roll," I encourage you to examine your wardrobe while your at it. Ask yourself if you are "respecting your roll" more than you are respecting yourself. If we have become a country that respects what we use to wipe ourselves more than we respect our women, there is a serious problem. Have we come to the point that women have to compete with toilet paper? Or is it just that women in the world have become so careless and trashy that even toilet paper has become more respectable than the average American woman? The media needs to stop encouraging women to dress so scantily. Women need to respect themselves more. Women are more respectable than toilet paper, and it's time they acted like it.

Here is the commercial:

Modesty-->It Goes Back to the Gospel

Modesty. Not that big of a deal, right? I mean, it's just a pair of shorts. It's just a halter top. Sure it's tight, but it flatters my figure. Surely, it's okay for me to wear. Surely it's okay for Christians to wear.

This justification is dangerous. It's wrong. It's sinful. And truly, modesty isn't about the hemline. It's not about some arbitrary set of rules. It's not about shorts being past the fingertips or shirts being high enough or sleeves being a credit card in width. It's about the heart. Modesty isn't something you do. It's something you are. Modesty is a characteristic, a mindset, an attitude, and a way of life. And when one truly is modest, she will not wear things that are questionable or inappropriate (unless it's by accident or out of plain ignorance).

Guess what? MODESTY IS THAT BIG OF A DEAL! It's a huge deal. And it all goes back to the Gospel of Christ. His death. His sacrifice for you. Don't believe me? This video is the best thing I've seen or heard on this topic. I was almost in tears by the end. Before you listen:

"Dear God, I pray that you would open the hearts of those who are about to listen to this. I pray that You will use Your Holy Spirit to convict the hearts of the listeners. Show each one wear she is in the wrong. Show each one where she needs to make life changes in order to become the Proverbs 31 woman that you created her to be. Use those who are changed to make a difference in your name in the lives of all those around her. Use her to spread the modesty trend among women in the Christian community. Help all women to stay strong and to know who they want to appeal to: You. In Christ's Name, Amen."

Dear Immodestly Dressed,

You’ve been there. You know how it feels.

To experience a situation that you hate, and you want so desperately to have the power to change it, but you don’t. Sometimes a situation can seem so chaotic and impossible and you can hurt so much because of it. And you wish so badly you could change it, but you just can’t. Maybe you don’t know how. Maybe you try, and nothing seems to work. Maybe it’s just something so great that you can’t do it alone.

But you’ve been there.

So have I.

How can I express myself right now? I feel so frustrated with how women and young girls are dressing. And the best way I can think of to express the seriousness of it is by writing a letter. This is a letter girls who dress immodestly. It is not directed at any one person, but to all young girls who are in the wrong on this issue. You know who you are.


Dear Immodestly Dressed,

There are a few things that I would like to say to you regarding how you dress. Not only how you dress, but also how you act. And your attitude. And your self-worth. And respecting yourself.

I know why you do it. You’ve seen other girls leave little to the imagination. And you’ve seen the attention they get. You’ve seen that good-looking guy you have a crush on eyeing her. Because he is interested in what she is showing. And that girl who shows her cleavage and wears shorts that cover little more than her panties? She is the one that gets all of the compliments on how “gorgeous” she is. She is the one all of the guys pay attention to. She is the one who gets glamorous treatment. So you think, “maybe if I dress that way, I will get attention. Maybe I will be pretty, too.”

Or maybe you’re not a young girl at school. Maybe you’re older, and you’re dressing this way. Maybe you think you need to because when you go out with your husband, he spends more time looking at half-dressed women than he does looking at you, his own wife. And maybe you feel like you have to dress this way to try and keep your husband’s eyes on you. Maybe you think, “if I dress this way, I’ll be pretty enough for my husband. He won’t look at other women anymore.”

And that’s what we all want, isn’t it? To be pretty.

Immodestly Dressed, I want to take this time to try and express to you how many problems you are causing when you dress this way. First, you should know that there are some really nice boys out there who are struggling a lot. These boys want to be pure. They want their thoughts to be pure. But you need to understand that when you don’t cover your body, boys struggle to do that. It makes the whole process nearly impossible when you are half-naked in front of them.

Immodestly Dressed, I want you to think about this for a moment. Someday, you will be married. And you will have a husband whom you want to have eyes for you, and you alone. But girls who aren’t modest are causing your husband to struggle with his thoughts. Wouldn’t that hurt you? Think about it this way. When you dress immodestly, there are a lot of husbands who see you. There are a lot of husbands who want to be faithful to their wives in action and in thought. And you are the girl who is causing this husband to struggle. You are the girl who is causing this man to hurt his wife deeply. You are the girl that has the potential to destroy this marriage without even knowing you’re doing it. And you are the girl that Satan is using to ruin lives.

This is a serious problem, not just with the secular world, but in the Christian realm as well. There are Christian men who can’t even serve on the Lord ’s Table for fear of having to fight this war as they see women sitting in pews. The church should be the one place where men of God can go and find peace and rest. It shouldn’t be one of the worst places for them to go when struggling with such a battle.

But it’s not just an issue about how you dress. It’s about your attitude. And your body language. The way you act around boys can make his life Hell as well. Even if you’re dressed modestly, there are things you can do and say that make these boys struggle. You need to be cautious about these things as well.

Immodestly Dressed, you need to know that you are beautiful the way you are, without revealing your body to everyone around you. You need to know that when you dress that way, you are not attracting the boys you really need to be with anyway. You need to know that the one you really need to look good for is God. And when you dress this way, you look hideous to Him.

You also need to know that just because you are going swimming doesn’t mean that God’s standards no longer apply. So wearing bikinis that cover less than your underwear is never okay. And just because you are in a pageant, participating in a wedding, or going to prom doesn’t mean the rules no longer apply. We are to be modest in everything we do in our lives. The only exception to dressing modestly is when you are married, and that is in the bedroom with your husband ONLY.

Walking around half-naked is nothing short of selling yourself for free. When boys and/or men see you leaving little to the imagination, they begin to visually consume you in their minds. Don’t be that cheap. Have some respect for yourself. Because you are worth more than that. Don’t be a free prostitute. When you dress this way, that’s what you reduce yourself to.

So please. Stop letting Satan use you as an instrument to destroy souls, lives, marriages, and more. Not just for me, but for yourself, and more importantly, for God. You are worth so much more than that.

Hannah Burleson

Modesty: From the Hearts of Men of God

I exhort you: Be the Proverbs 31 woman.