Serving God on the Outside and Inside

I was looking up quotes online the other day, and I saw a quote that kind of caught me off guard. It said, "You don't have to look Christian on the outside, just on the inside." It sounds all good and dandy, right? Christians being able to dress and appear how they want, as long as they are faithful to God on the inside? 

After thinking about this quote for a moment, it kind of hurt me that people actually do believe that statement. If we are living for God on the inside, our outside is ultimately going to match. We aren't going to want our appearance to look ungodly, because that is going to represent just that to the world; ungodliness. If we aren't dressing for God, we are dressing for the devil. This might sound extreme, but I have found this to be true in my own life. 

I have spoken about my troubles with dress before, and its something that is dealt with everyday. I find that if I choose to wear something modest, my relationship with God grows because that is what God tells us to do in the Bible. If I choose to wear something immodest, I feel embarrassed, and it brings about the wrong attention and it disrespects God. If I wouldn't wear it in front of the people at my church, I shouldn't be wearing it at all. I don't want the wrong attention from people. Instead, I want to represent God in my appearance, and I want others to be able to see my faith to Him; not for my own glory, but to glorify what He has done in my heart and life. 

Deuteronomy 22:5 - "The woman shall not wear that which pertaineth unto a man, neither shall a man put on a woman's garment: for all that do so [are] abomination unto the LORD thy God."

God states that no gender should dress as the opposite. God made us each a certain gender for His glory. Women are meant to dress appropriately in clothing meant for the woman, and men are meant to dress appropriately in clothing meant for the man. If a person is dressing in the opposite gender's clothing, they are going against who God made them to be, and it is a sin. 

Leviticus 19:28 - "Ye shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead, nor print any marks upon you: I [am] the LORD."

Marks. This is speaking about any marking that a person may make on themselves that they were not born with. This can include cuts a person has made on themselves, tattoos, etc. God states that these markings are of the devil, for the dead, which is the followers of the devil. God made each of us in His image. Would we go to a museum and draw on something painted by Van Gogh? Of course not, so why would we want to ruin God's art when He made us?

1 Corinthians 3:17 - "If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which [temple] ye are."

1 Corinthians 6: 19- "What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost [which is] in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?"

1 Corinthians 6: 20- "For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's."

In each of these verses, God states that we are the making of Him, and we are to treat our bodies how He intended. When God made us, He intended to make us out of the image of Himself; perfect. Though, our sin takes over, and takes away from that image. When God saved the world from sin, giving us the opportunity to accept Jesus as our savior, He gave us guidelines on how to treat our body, and they should be followed. If we want to represent God and encourage others to see His greatness, we have to show others what He is all about. We can't dress like the devil, and expect to encourage others in Christ. We have to represent God from the inside and outside if we want others to see Christ who lives in us.