Mrs Sarita Buchanan
Pastor's Wife
Central Baptist Church
Baton Rouge, LA
IS YOUR "CROWN" OR IS IT GLORIFYING TO GOD?
There are those who have the false notion that anything pretty is wrong and that women should wear dark baggy clothing, wear their hair in a bun and no makeup so they don't draw any attention. BUT God didn't create women to be ugly! Woman was His "crowning" act of creation that He intended to be even more beautiful than the breathtaking scenery of creation or the lovely works of nature made by His own hand. HE saved woman or this part of creation to be his last and HIS best!
Charles Spurgeon preached a sermon in England once..... he said, "London gets their fashions straight from Paris, and Paris gets their fashions straight from Hell." The Bible talks about worldliness or being worldly. This almost always refers to sins of separation... which means... - participating in dress practices, that identify with the world. The word "world" in the Bible refers to the kingdom order set up by satan which is his domain. He is the "god of this world" as 2 Cor 4:4 says. Isaiah 14:12 - 14 defines satan's goals: he wished to make himself equal with God, to overthrow the worship of God nd win worship to himself, to rule and reign over all creation in the place of God. SO when we examine the issues then we realize that worldliness is participation in satan's kingdom, allowing him to be glorified and set up in the place of pre-eminence in our lives. When we dress any other than modest then we are trying to be gods and draw attention to us.... not our beliefs in God. James 4:4.... "know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with (or against) God? whosever therefore will be a friend of the world (satan's domain) is the enemy of God.
1 John 2:15 - 17 - Here we are given some stern commands concerning our relationship to this world that reflect the danger that it presents to our spiritual lives. God isn't telling us not to love the globe, or not to appreciate this earthly masterpiece. He is telling us not to love satan's empire and all that it stands for. There are women even in our church that would give up God before they would give up their unchristian wardrobe. They are showing us that they love the devil's world more than they love the Lord.
Then in Romans 12:2 we are given instruction concerning the world. We are not supposed to strive to fit in and seem acceptable to the world's way of life. The devil is sure to try squeezing us into his mold so that we'll conform. God gives us the alternative of allowing Him to transform us into the image of Christ in the same kind of miracle that make a caterpillar become a butterfly. But you can't be both. We must FIRST shun the temptation to conform to the devil before we can be transformed for the glory of Christ.
Worldliness:
- damages our testimony
- is a reproach to the Gospel of Christ
- sears our conscience to the Holy Spirit's working
- puts up a wall of separation that prohibits fellowship with God and getting prayers answered
*Worldliness is NOT an unimportant matter that we can afford to ignore.
Titus 2: 3 - 5 ..... tells us that we are to be "teachers of good things" ..... "that the Word of God be not blasphemed."
What are you teaching with your life? What are others learning from your actions? Are you blaspheming the Word of God by things in your life that need to be changed?
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