Knowing how to dress as a Christian woman can be a constant struggle, striking a balance between exposing too much flesh and looking like your grandma is a tough task.

But what does the Bible really say about how we should dress as women of God?

Matthew 6:28-30 ASV

“And why are ye anxious concerning raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: yet I say unto you, that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God doth so clothe the grass of the field, which to-day is, and to-morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?”

This passage reminds us not to spend too much time worrying about our clothing; God will provide for us and clothe us adequately. We often set our eyes too firmly on modern trappings and don’t consider how lucky we are. Next time you are emptying your wardrobe in a frenzy, trying to find something to wear, let’s try to be grateful that the wardrobe was full in the first place!

Timothy 6:6-8 ASV

“But godliness with contentment is great gain: for we brought nothing into the world, for neither can we carry anything out; but having food and covering we shall be therewith content.”

We are only on the earth for a short time and we will not be able to take our Louboutins and Michael Kors watches with us when we leave. In the grand scheme of things these items are worthless. The Bible says we should be content with what we have, as long as we are clothed and not hungry, we should be smiling from ear to ear.

James 2:2-4 ASV

“For if there come into your synagogue a man with a gold ring, in fine clothing, and there come in also a poor man in vile clothing; and ye have regard to him that weareth the fine clothing, and say, Sit thou here in a good place; and ye say to the poor man, Stand thou there, or sit under my footstool; Do ye not make distinctions among yourselves, and become judges with evil thoughts?”

When was the last time you judged someone based on the clothes they were wearing? Fairly recently? We all do it! But here God is telling us that we should not become judges ourselves but see all people as equal, regardless of their attire. Just as we hope that people would not judge us for wearing something unflattering/unfashionable on a bad day or if we were to find ourselves homeless or in a similarly difficult situation. We should treat the man in Prada the same as we treat the man in Primark.

1 Timothy 2:8-10 ASV

“I desire therefore that the men pray in every place, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and disputing. In like manner, that women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with shamefastness and sobriety; not with braided hair, and gold or pearls or costly raiment; but (which becometh women professing godliness) through good works.”

The key words in this passage are ‘shamefastness’ and ‘sobreity’. The dictionary definition of shamefastness is: “the state or quality of being modest, shy, or bashful” we should not be ashamed of our bodies, but modest. Our bodies were made with the love, care and attention of God, this is nothing to be ashamed of, but it could be said that if we value our bodies it would make sense not to cheapen them by allowing everyone to see them and reducing them to mere objects to be stared at.

Dressing with sobriety does not mean bland boring colours, it simply means we do not have to go out of our way to dress to excess, why disguise our bodies in clothes which suck/tuck/hide the bodies God made for us?

Have you ever thought about it from this angle? If we dress provocatively we are tempting our Christian brothers into sin, while we are not responsible for their thoughts, we are tempting them to have impure thoughts and potentially actions, if we love our brothers as ourselves, why would we want to see them sin because of us?

The second part of this passage says that we should become beautiful through the good works we do, not through adding things onto our bodies, trying to  make us look more beautiful on the outside.

Psalms 139:12-16 KJV

“Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee; but the night shineth as the day: the darkness and the light are both alike to thee. For thou hast possessed my reins: thou hast covered me in my mother’s womb. I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well.”

Lastly, instead of buying clothes to hide/cover/mask certain parts of our bodies, we must remember that we are fearfully and wonderfully made. Our bodies are simply perfect; God does not make any mistakes.