Dressed Up?

America has become casual about the way in which we dress. 4 decades ago I always wore a jacket and tie for pastoral ministry. That was an unspoken expectation. In earliest years a black suit was the daily ‘uniform.’  For the last decade, I wore blue jeans even on Sundays except for holidays.  Remember when people ‘dressed up’ to travel by air?  That traditions is long gone! Now you see gym clothes and even pajamas on flights. Since retiring from full-time ministry, I have worked part-time for a local funeral home as an attendant. Yes, you guessed it - I’m back to more formal attire- dark suit and tie for those days.

So let’s get to the spiritual application today.  
Do you ‘wear’ Christ each day?
Are you clothed in the gifted garments He provides to cloth our souls?

Paul spoke of ‘being clothed’ to describe the holy calling of Christians. In writing to the Galatians, a group of Christians who were ‘looked good’ on the outside, with a form of religion based on their own efforts, he told them that the real transformation, the genuine Christian life, resulted from a gift: "for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ." (Galatians 3:27, NIV)  Pressing the metaphor, he reminded them that the clothing of Christ erased all the class distinctions that came from the kind of clothing they wore.  Rigid class distinctions that separated people, noted by the cut and quality of their clothing, disappeared when they put on Christ. "There is no longer Jew or Gentile, slave or free, male and female. For you are all one in Christ Jesus." (Galatians 3:28-29, NLT)

Jesus, when He was ending His earthly mission, told the disciples that God would open the wardrobe of Heaven and dress them up to for His work. He said, "I am going to send you what my Father has promised; but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.” (Luke 24:49, NIV) Remember the awesome account of Pentecost (Acts 2) when these ordinary men from obscure origins became world-changers?  They were dressed in the Spirit, given authority, wisdom, and influence that still flows down through the centuries to us. My prayer today is not for smarter Christians, richer Christians, or better educated Christians. I pray that we will be ‘dressed up’ newly clothed with the Spirit, marked by Him as the people of the Lord.

 

Let’s take a cue from those first disciples who were promised a new suit from the Spirit. They did not go buy it somewhere. They waited for the Lord to bring His Presence to them.  When the Spirit came at Pentecost (See Acts 2) they were notably different, clothed in God’s goodness, granted the ability to serve Him.

 

Ever wake up late, rushing through the morning, pressed by urgent demands of life, throwing on an outfiit without thought?  What a difference when we plan an evening out, looking over the closet, choosing the clothing that makes us feel ‘just right.’ Let’s not rush into life without the clothes of the Spirit!  Let’s take time each day to pray, to meditate, to invite Christ to clothe us. Without that we are vulnerable to temptation and we will show others the goodness and the ‘glory’ He desires us to display.

We must spend time in the Presence of the Father, letting Him clothe us with His Presence.
We must learn to live in this day – asking Him where we can serve, what we need to know, and to show Himself through us by wrapping us in glorious robes of righteousness not of our own making.

John, in the amazing picture language of Revelation (the Apocalypse) borrows the clothing metaphor to describe the eternal state of the people of God.  Take this word from the Word with the prayer that God will dress you up, prepare you for His service, and make you as powerful as Gideon in building His kingdom in your world. 

"After this I saw a vast crowd, too great to count, from every nation and tribe and people and language, standing in front of the throne and before the Lamb. They were clothed in white robes and held palm branches in their hands." (Revelation 7:9, NLT)  "Then one of the twenty-four elders asked me, “Who are these who are clothed in white? Where did they come from?” And I said to him, “Sir, you are the one who knows.” Then he said to me, “These are the ones who died in the great tribulation. They have washed their robes in the blood of the Lamb and made them white." (Revelation 7:13-14, NLT)

Lord, clothe us in Your holy Presence. Amen!

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(Video of this blog at this link)

 

 Dress us in beauty, Father.

Help us to discard our self-righteousness,

To let You make us resplendent with holiness,

Radiant with the Spirit.

 

In Jesus’ Name, Amen.