All Dressed Up with Somewhere to Go

July 16, 2010 at 8:06 am | Posted in Uncategorized | 7 Comments
Tags: Biblical standards for clothing, Body of Christ, Christian clothing, Colosssians 3, distinction, dressed up, meekness, modesty, modesty and distinction

Few things will stir up a hornet’s nest of disagreement among Christians like the issue of what type of clothing is appropriate. This should not be the case, however, since the Bible’s principles for Christian dress are clear: modesty and distinction (I Timothy 2:9; Deuteronomy 22:5).

Colossians 3:12 deals with a less divisive, but equally important, issue: What the Christian should be wearing on the inside. “Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering;”

Imagine what it would be like if Christians wore special belts around our waists that made us feel, in our deepest parts, a desire to forgive those who are suffering from having done horrible things (bowels of mercies). What if we had special shirts that made us go to great lengths to do good for others (kindness)? Or how about hats that made us think neither too little, nor too much, of ourselves, but simply kept us from thinking of ourselves at all (humbleness of mind)? What if we had shoes that kept our feet moving in response to God’s power, instead of trying to run ahead in our own power (meekness)? Maybe we could even put on overcoats that helped us bear with patience the faults of others, while we remember how much the Lord puts up with from us (longsuffering).

I suppose, in the world’s eyes, we would look pretty funny. They would say we were “all dressed up with nowhere to go.” But, perhaps, in God’s eyes we would appear as one big unified body, ready to go wherever God sent us, ruled by His peace, doing His will, and seeking His glory (Colossians 3:13-15).