WORSHIP LEADERSHIP
THE FINE LINE OF FASHION“ SENSUOUS OR VIRTUOUS” | Leann Albrecht
We live at a time in history when our liberal society would like to accentuate the“ sensuous”( a preoccupation with bodily or sexual pleasures) and dishonor the“ virtuous”( general moral excellence; right actions and thinking; goodness; strength and courage with the power to choose right). It is a time when purity has little value and sex sells everything. This cultural obsession with“ sex” preys on our homes and churches to paralyze our minds and harden our hearts. It seeks to steal the beauty of sex that God intended. path: the lustful responses you provoke are not pleasing to the Lord. Furthermore, it’ s not the kind of attention you really want, and it brings with it a cost you cannot afford to pay.
Proverbs 7:24-27“ Control your sexual urges and guard your hearts against lust. Do not let it steal your heart away and do not be enticed by its beckoning. For it has pierced the souls of a multitude of people … mighty ones have fallen. Truly it is the road to the grave. It leads to the chambers of death.”
Nashville, Tennessee is a melting pot of creative colorful people who are easily identified. They are the artistic ones who wear funky clothes, shocking hair colors, and have multiple parts of their bodies tattooed or pierced. Personally, I find it fascinating. They are walking exhibits of creativity and many of them are beautiful.
As a role model( one who inspires others to good moral and ethical conduct), we have a responsibility to know what’ s hip and what’ s not in the“ fashion world.” If the latest fashion“ rage” is risqué, we don’ t need to cause an outrage by wearing it. It’ s imperative that we know the difference between a creative outfit that is beautiful and one that is creative for shock value. There is a desperate need in nearly every setting for guidelines on this important subject. I have no desire to be the“ fashion police,” however, I have gained some wisdom from having lived a life of extremes.
My father was a minister. I was the prodigal teenager who lived the whispered gossip. Eventually I moved to New York as a flight attendant, followed by several years of print and runway modeling in the fashion industry. After moving back to St. Louis, Missouri, I worked as a sales representative in the business world of ad specialties. Now, years later, I am a pastor, worship leader, writer and speaker … and
married to the same man, Carl, for 40 years.
Not long ago, at a conference, a senior pastor extended his hand to me and said,“ I just want you to know how much I appreciate you for dressing modestly as a worship leader … and thank you. I wish everyone who is in leadership could somehow know the importance of that.” The definition of modesty is: Adequately clothed for propriety; the quality of being proper, fitting or suitable.
At that time, out of necessity, our senior pastor would have to make a“ pre-summer” speech on the church dress code. In his humorous but honest way he said,“ If we can see the lines of your underwear, your clothes are probably too tight, and you shouldn’ t wear it.” In a fashion era when every piece of clothing looks like a second layer of skin, that was an appropriate statement!
Yes, I know,“ It’ s what’ s on the inside that really counts.” However, what is conveyed on the outside can be a reflection of what is on the inside. If your fashion decisions are meant to gain the flattering eye of the opposite sex... or any sex, it will be a hollow thrill. Please take the advice from one who has walked down that
The dictionary defines lust as: the sexual desire to seek unrestrained gratification of the senses and bodily appetite. Matthew 5:27 says,“ You have heard the commandment,‘ Do not commit adultery,’ but I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman and cherishes lustful thoughts has already committed adultery with her in his own heart.”
Men and women are different in many ways. Women are often emotionally stimulated while men are often visually stimulated. That’ s the way God made us. Proverbs 27:20 says,“ The grave and destruction are never satisfied; so, too, the eyes of man.”
Cultural dressing for the Islamic religion only allows a woman to expose her hands and face.“ Wahhabism,” a sub-sect of Islam, requires women to be totally covered in black with only a small slit for the eyes in the veil. This legalistic form of dressing merely deletes the identity of a woman, therefore it is not the answer either.
One summer I was at a Christian music festival. One of the guys asked if I could spend the day with his teenage daughter since he was going to be busy setting up. I agreed to pick her up at the hotel entrance later that morning.
As she opened the car door to join me, I tried
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