With any standard that we set for ourselves, comes the temptation to self-righteousness, and that has been clearly evident in my life, time and time again. I don’t wear ‘those kind of shoes’ (for example), therefore, in my heart I look down on and condemn people who do. Pride creeps in, and my standard becomes a corrupted thing, used only to stroke my own self-esteem, and tear down fellow Christians.

However, like everything else in life, this subject needs some balance. As Christians, we need to be careful not to react to our mistakes, and swing in the opposite direction, but instead to seek God’s face and find out what HE says on the subject. Is it wrong to have standards? No. I honestly believe standards are a necessity of life. We all have limitations we set for ourselves (people who have no limits are miserable). We have a time we wake up in the morning, a certain kind of movie we won’t watch, words we won’t say, attitudes we refuse to indulge in. Standards are good. To treat them like the bad guy is to ignore the real issue. The problem was never our standards, in the first place! It was the condition of our hearts, and even if we eliminate the standard, the problem is essentially still there. So instead of becoming one of those “I wear skirts and you don’t, therefore you must be wrong” kind of people, we become the “I’ve learned to let go of my standards, and you haven’t, therefore you must be wrong” type. Same thing. Just a different side of the coin. What we need to do, as young ladies, is to humble ourselves before God, and let Him give us a ‘make-over’ in our hearts. Then we can focus on those faulty (sometimes silly) outward standards, and ask ourselves the serious question, “Does my appearance truly give GOD the glory? Or does it seek to emphasis ME in any way? MY body? MY hair? MY spirituality?”