Modesty is not only about gym clothes and skirt-lengths. It is not about purity rings or legalism, either — at least, not at heart.
Rather, we as the Echo editorial board believe modesty is meant to be an outward expression of humility, founded on both relationship and intention. It is a heart posture we are called to live out and one we as a body living in community must understand as we honor each other to the best of our abilities.
To ignore the place of modesty in our lives is to create room in our relationships for distortion, a twisting of love and self-image that neglects God’s design and purpose for our lives.
Thus Paul, in Romans 12:2–3, encourages his readers, “And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect. For through the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think; but to think so as to have sound judgment.”
This sound judgment goes both ways in the conversation of modesty — in humility, there is no space for either self-idolization or self-deprecation.
Instead, space must be made for grace and for others, the focus shifting off the self and onto God and the world around us.
“I feel like this conversation is more about us getting in alignment with how God sees us and how he sees others,” Jeff Groeling, the department chair and professor of communication said. “Our lives are a constant fight to reorient ourselves (and) to be more focused, not only in what God is doing, but (in) what God is doing around us.”
The consequence of not focusing on those things can be detrimental, not only to our spiritual lives, but to our overall sense of self.
Yet these little injuries of self-image aren’t always obvious at first glance.
“We oftentimes talk about not becoming too prideful,” Kara Patrick, a university counselor here at Taylor, said. “And where I see that becoming detrimental for a lot of people … (is) being self-deprecating to the fact that we don't even acknowledge the ways that God has intricately and uniquely designed us.”
Patrick noted that Christians especially can fall prey to this type of deprecation for fear of being seen as prideful. Yet refusing to take a compliment or accept the good gifts God has bestowed upon oneself can be just as damaging as pride, and, in a cold irony, still places self above God.
Modesty is not about putting oneself down but creates room for multiple people’s giftings to fit and grow together. Rather than becoming the root of our identities, then, modesty creates a sort of middle-ground: a mindset where one can feel competent without becoming egocentric, where one can enjoy the gifts of others without sacrificing one’s value.
“It seems to recognize limitations,” Kevin Diller, professor of philosophy and religion, said. “It seems to hold back (and) make space for others.”
For Diller, modesty is also tied closely to simplicity. As we embrace a life that emphasizes a right relationship with ourselves, we create closer, sweeter relationships with others, not turning to them for validation, but embracing their God-giftedness alongside our own.
This is when modesty truly abandons the legalism our society so often preaches.
As our identity shifts, so too will behaviors as simple as clothing choices and language. But that is not — and should not be — the focus of modesty.
It should always be about the heart first: about returning to a right relationship with God, with self and with those around us, as we together learn to express humility in a gentler way than our culture has taught us.
