My speech at the High School Co-op

The following is the text of a speech I recently gave during the High School Co op "Great Communicators" public speaking course my dad is leading. Each h.s. student will have given 4 stand up formal speeches during the course, and for most it was their 1st ever public speech.

I am working on a longer version I hope to give when Norm Wakefield is here in August and we hold another 1st -- A Father-Daughter retreat. Please pray for me.

The following was given in English only and I distributed the text and will have it converted into Korean. For the Father-Daughter retreat I will have a translator: I speak a sentence, then the translator speaks that sentence in Korean. This will be yet another new and interesting experience for me!!

I welcome any and all feedback that you feel could improve my speech.

Also, please pray that God will use this speech to convict hearts to dress to please Him and not just to please the world.

*** Text of Speech follows ***

(EXCITED!!)
Did you hear the news! Did you hear? Jesus is coming. He’s on the elevator right now and will be here any minute! Isn’t this exciting??

If Jesus walked into the room right now, would you be prepared to meet Him or would you be embarrassed by the way you are dressed?

Would you run and hide as Adam and Eve did in the Garden of Eden?

Before Adam and Eve sinned, they were very close to God. They were truly glorifying God in their appearance. In Genesis 3:7 it tells what happened after they sinned; “Then the eyes of both of them were opened and they knew they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings” Adam and Eve ran off and hid when they realized their nakedness. They knew they did not glorify God any more. God even asked Adam in genesis 3:11 “ Who told you that you were naked?” Adam and Eve tried to be like God when they ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Then they sinned and lost their innocence and their intimacy with God. They chose their own clothing and justified their actions. They made excuses. This was not honoring God and they could no longer be in His presence. He even made them new clothing from animal skins and drove them out of His presence.

When you choose your clothes each day, are you thinking about the Lord. Are you asking yourself ‘will this honor and glorify Him so that he will want me to be in His presence?’ Am I a testimony for Jesus Christ as I walk down the street? Do I dress for God or dress for the world?

I Timothy 2:8-10 Paul says “ …in like manner also that the women adron themselves in modest apparel, with propriety and moderation, not with braided hair or gold or pearls or costly clothing, but which is proper for women professing godliness, with good works.” Paul doesn’t have a list of do’s and don’t for modest dress. He doesn’t say that skirts need to be a certain length or blouses should cover a certain amount of skin. He simply states that women are to dress with “modesty and self – control”.

Modesty is so much more than a ‘dress code’. It is about the heart intent – what is motivating us to dress the way we do?

This brings us to the issue of immodesty. When we dress immodestly,, we are doing what Adam and Eve did. We are saying : Pride and just doing what we desire are most important.

I have titled my speech “Dress for Success - The Power of Dressing Modestly.” There was a very popular book in America a few years ago that talked about how to dress for business: What makes a good 1st impression in your workplace and how to dress successfully. How your dress showed your identity, your confidence, your style.

But today what I want to talk with you about is far more important – Do you dress for God or dress for yourself and the world? (pause and look at the
Audience)

While I will mainly address this to the girls here, I think the boys should listen up as well.

These are my three points : 1. Who do you dress to impress, 2. what does how you dress say to the world, and 3. what is motivating your heart?

This speech is not about wearing dresses as that would be legalistic. It is about pleasing God in how you dress.

My 1st point is that how you dress is about who you are dressing to please.

Is it yourself, your friends, the world in general, or God?. I am often told “wearing pants or shorts isn’t a sin” and my answer is “of course not”. Sin lies in the heart and only God sees that.

I am still surprised how people often noticed that my mother , Iryna and I only wear dresses. If we are in an airport or store, people will ask if we wear dresses because of our religion. We were asked this recently touring one of the Korean palaces. If my dad is there, he will speak up and say “no, it’s because I love my ladies dressing like ladies..”, or we will comment “we don’t wear them because of our religion, but we do wear them to honor God”.

So my 1st point is that who we dress FOR tells a lot about who we desire most to please? Is it God or Man? As Christians we should dress to please God. My challenge to you is to dress with a purpose. Choose whom you serve and then dress accordingly.

My 2nd point is that as Christians, we have a responsibility to reflect godliness in everything we do. Yes, we must live IN the world, but we are cautioned to not live AS the world . I John 2:15 says “love not the world , neither the things that are in the world. If any man loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.”

We know many families in our community in Texas that have made a personal choice to wear pants, jeans, shorts, etc.. We know them by their fruit, not by how they dress... and by their fruit we see that they love God. They have made a different personal choice for their family. How any one family/person chooses to dress is a matter of personal choice and not one of moral absolutes one way or the other.

I do challenge you to look at yourself in the mirror and think about the identity and image you want to give to the world. Do you feel your image tells the world your true hearts desire for God?

I want to close with my 3rd point – modesty in dress is a matter of your heart, not of your hemline or length of your skirt. It is a matter between you and God.

Often times how a person dresses is an expression of pride and self- importance, or just laziness, which is just the opposite of humility, diligence and loving God.

I wear dresses because I have the desire to do so even on outings such as a field trip. Although there are times it’s just not practical to wear a dress, I love wearing them and I do so out of MY desire, not out of my parents’ requirements.

I won't think wrongly of your for your choice of how you dress, please don’t judge me for mine.

In conclusion : Dress to honor God, dress to reflect godly character to the world, and dress to reflect the heart that beats under those clothes. Do this each morning and then get dressed.

Dress with a purpose. Dress for godly success.

God’s blessings to you and thanks for listening.