Real Sex Appeal

Special Olympics of Iowa called a few weeks ago, promising not to sell anything.  Well, after a five minute phone conversation, I hung up with a two-year subscription to Shape magazine. I thought it'd be the safest option as far as magazines go - now I won't lust after tropical climates from a vacation magazine or covet over the latest trends from Vogue or read about trashy celebrities in People.  

Yesterday my first edition of Shape arrived.  I had no idea that it has a section called: Shape Your Life Sex.  This month, they're encouraging women to "Dress to Thrill."  The question is: should you choose a cute or provocative Halloween costume?  "Both," Debra Macleod, coauthor of The Fantasy Sex Deck (the title says it all...UGH!).  Having a provocative Halloween costume will "channel your inner naughty" and add new twists to "something you've done hundreds of times."

 I can't help but notice how opposite this Shape "advice" is from God's advice as written in His Word.

  Women are so confused about their womanhood; they are resorting to sex appeal to fulfill their longings.  There they will only find pain and rejection.  In what does God instruct women to adorn themselves?

Do not let your adorning be external - the braiding of hair and the putting on of gold jewelry, or the clothing you wear - but let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God's sight is very precious.

I Peter 3:3-4

Everywhere, in everything, be testing what you hear against God's Word.  I was watching the TODAY Show Moms and couldn't stand what I was hearing - I had to shut it off.  It is totally counter-cultural for how God tells us to live; I had to remind myself that I am to lay down my life for my son and husband - it's not about me!  They had one women on the show who left her husband and two kids to "find herself."  It was disgusting and incredibly sad.  I can't listen to that or it tempts me to put my own wants above those whom I am called to serve.  Christ laid down His life for me; I am to take up my cross daily and lay down my life for my family.  The Today Show and Shape magazine definitely don't encourage me to do that.

May you be encouraged today to think critically about what you see and hear - anything that may hinder your walk with Christ.  Spend time meditating on what He says in His Word, that you may exude real, godly "sex appeal!"

 (P.S. Married ladies, by all means, buy that provocative nurse costume and wear it only for your husband!)