Dress yourselves in Christ. Romans 13:14
Do you remember the experience of breaking up with a boy?
When I was in my early teens my best friend had a boyfriend. However, she spent very little time with him. Most of our free time, particularly on weekends, we would hang out together at each other’s houses.
Eventually, my friend decided the relationship with her boyfriend was over. She would let him know by announcing she had a new boy in her life.
This is where I came in.
I could dress up as a boy, she declared, and pretend to be her new boyfriend. (I did have short hair.) Although I was not keen on the idea, she won me over with her plan.
In order to make this scheme successful, we sneaked into her brother’s bedroom and borrowed a shirt and a cap. Then, in my disguise, I attempted to swagger like a male adolescent as my friend and I walked arm in arm along the road toward where her boyfriend stood. I stopped at a safe distance while my friend continued on to confront the unsuspecting boy.
Hoping to look manly, I yanked the cap down to hide my face, crossed my arms, lent against the wall and waited. I tried to ignore a carload of teenager youths who drove past me hooting the car horn and wolf-whistling out of the open windows.
Clearly, the plan was not working!
Then, although my friend had assured me she would not let her boyfriend get too close, I noticed them walking towards me. My heart began to thump loudly. I turned and sprinted down the road, around the corner and as far away as possible. My friend followed—alone—shouting Rachel, stop.
Clothes make a statement about a person, usually. They are a way of showing outward expression.
In my instance, however, my attire was not convincing.
In the same way, our faith can be worn like clothing and make a declaration about what we believe.
Sometimes, we want to look like a respectable Christian—we go to church regularly, we do good in the community, and we put money in the offering plate—but if we do not have belief on the inside then we are not going to be outwardly convincing—just as I failed to persuade a car full of strangers about my identity.
Other times, we are sure about our identity in Christ, yet we do not look like Christ. Often, we fail to be like Jesus in what we say and do. We show impatience instead of patience to an irritating neighbor. Or we rush past the person at church who needs someone to listen and share a kind word with them, because we are busy and have more important things to do.
We need our salvation to be visible through our words and deeds.
What we must do, as we plan our physical clothing for the day, is consider how we will wear Christ throughout our day.
Let those who need Jesus have the opportunity to see Jesus.