Principle of Separation

I have come to the firm belief that every area of my life must be based on the foundation of biblical principles. What I choose to wear must be guided by the principles laid out in God’s Word. As a Child of the King, I am responsible to find the principles God lays out and apply them to my everyday life. In the area of dress God is far from silent and has graciously given me the principles needed to know how I am to dress.

As a Christian, it is of utmost concern to me that my life fulfills two main purposes.

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First, I want my life to point others to Christ.

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Secondly, I want my lifestyle to give a proper and accurate view of God.

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These two premises should be the driving force behind every decision a Christian makes. Is what I am doing allowing others to see Christ – and as they see Christ, is it an accurate picture of who He is and what He values?

Our society is moving away from moral principles at a faster pace than ever before. Thus, living as a Christian in this era allows me awesome opportunities to show Christ and name the name of Christ in the way that I dress as a woman. It has become obvious to me that the farther our society moves away from moral principles the brighter my light shines when I apply biblical principles to my everyday life ( Matthew 5:14-16). I think that is what has saddened me the most when I see Christians choosing to lay aside this issue and deem it non important – they are forfeiting a divinely appointed opportunity to show Christ to a lost and dying world.

As I have read the Bible I have seen over and over again that there is a principle of separation that lines the pages throughout the entire Book. Regardless of whether I read in the Old Testament or in the New Testament, I find this principle of separation given to those who love the Lord. (Gen 13:9. Ezra 10:11, II Cor 6:17) God has always called His people to be different than the heathen. I have come to believe that if the world does not see a difference in the way I live my life they will not realize that there is a difference.

As I look at the way I dress and the pieces in which I choose to dress I have to bring my choices under this principle of separation. I have found that there are two areas that my clothing needs to be separate. First, my clothing needs to be separate from the world. In other words, it needs to be free from worldliness. God’s desire for his people is that they look different from the world and the world’s choices. The way I dress should be different from the main line of society. (Deut 14:2, IPt 2:9)

My dress should be distinctly separate. There are those who think that this issue of dress comes down only to a dress vs. pant issue. I must say that there is a danger there. For, there are skirts or dresses that are not distinctly separate from the world. It is unfortunate that there are those who dress worldly thinking that everything is OK because they are in a dress or a skirt. My attire must be distinctly separate from a worldly look or worldly influence. If I have a hard time going to the store – or being out in public in dress that defines me as different then I have a heart problem and am lacking in my love for the Savior.

However, this issue of separation must not be left just to this issue of worldliness. The Bible clearly teaches me that God created men and women to be distinctly different (Gen 1:27, Gen 22:5). So the second area of separation is in the area of gender distinctiveness. I must make sure that my clothing is distinctively free from looking like the apparel of a man – free in any way of masculinity. I want that when people look at me, even from a distance, they can tell that I am a lady.

When gender distinctiveness is valued in my dress you will find that anything I wear a man would be ashamed to have upon his body. It seems odd to me that the Christian world has come to accept the feminist agenda that it is OK for a woman to wear the apparel of a man, however, if we reversed the tables we would not be caught dead allowing a man within the membership of our church to parade around in a dress! There seems to be a definite double standard here. ( I will cover this in more depth in a subsequent post in this series.)

One of the prettiest pictures I have seen was that of a Mother and her daughter across a lake. Her husband had taken the picture from the other side of the lake – their backs turned from him. In the picture, you could make out the silhouette of mother and child – and you knew the child was with her mother because you could see her dress blowing in the wind. Although the image was a mere silhouette she was distinctively feminine.

The principle of separation has given me the understanding of knowing just how God desires me as a woman to dress. This principle has allowed me the security of knowing how my daughters need to be trained in their dress. How thankful I am, that God does not leave us without the answers to our questions. He cares how I dress, what I choose to dress in, and has clearly showed me through His Word the answers to these questions.

The question is not ‘Does God care what I wear?” but rather, Am I willing to apply biblical principles and have my dress in line with how God desires for me to dress?”