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Chapter 22—Dress
The Bible teaches modesty in dress. “In like manner also, that
the women adorn themselves in modest apparel.”
1 Timothy 2:9
.
This forbids display in dress. Any device designed to attract attention
to the wearer or to excite admiration (e.g., gaudy colors, profuse
ornamentation) is excluded from the modest apparel that God’s Word
enjoins.
Our dress is to be inexpensive—not with “gold or pearls or costly
clothing.”
Verse 9
.
Money is a trust from God. It is not ours to expend for the
gratification of pride or ambition. In the hands of God’s children it
is food for the hungry and clothing for the naked. It is a defense to
the oppressed, a means of health to the sick, a means of preaching
the gospel to the poor. Happiness could be brought to many hearts
if only the money that is now spent for show were used wisely.
Consider the life of Christ. Study His character and be partakers
with Him in His self-denial.
In the professed Christian world enough is spent for jewelry and
needlessly expensive dress to feed all the hungry and to clothe the
naked. Fashion and display absorb the means that might comfort
the poor and suffering. They rob the world of the gospel of the
Savior’s love. Missions languish. Multitudes perish for want of
Christian teaching. Beside our own doors and in foreign lands many
are untaught and unsaved.
Inasmuch as God has overspread the earth with His bounties,
filled its storehouses with the comforts of life, and freely given us
a saving knowledge of His truth, what excuse can we offer for not
meeting the needs of the widow and fatherless, the sick and suffering,
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the untaught and unsaved? In the day of God, when brought face to
face with Him who gave His life for these needy ones, what excuse
will we offer for spending time and money on indulgences that God
has forbidden? Will not Christ say to us, “‘I was hungry and you
gave Me no food; I was thirsty and you gave Me no drink; ... naked
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