One of my New Year's goals was to clean out my closet. I have a drawer designated for workout wear, a drawer for my work scrubs, and a space for my church/professional wear. If I could get away with wearing yoga pants and sweat shirts everywhere, I would be a happy woman.
However, I've learned that how you dress influences how people respond to you. I would never appear at an important conference in which I'm presenting while wearing yoga pants.
I've learned not wear my nice church clothes when working with the small children on my caseload. I attempted to wear a long, pretty skirt once. After I fended off a little guy who kept trying to crawl under my skirt, I learned quickly that scrubs were much more functional when working with spaghetti sauce/maple syrup coated little fingers. When I'm attending church, this gets a little more complicated. Churches have become a more casual atmosphere, but there are still the traditionalist who see church as a place to dress in your nicest clothes to show your respect to God. As a pastor's wife, how do I walk the line between making those who don't own dresses/dress pants and those who dress to the nines feel comfortable?
If it's a special occasion like Christmas, I dress up in a nice dress. If it's a regular service, I dress in business wear/business casual. What's my point you may ask?
We all have certain things we wear for certain occasions. What happens when we take that concept and bring it into our spiritual lives? When I'm at church, I wear my spiritual "church" clothes. I act different when I'm at church. I speak in scriptures more, mention that I will pray for people more, and show more grace.
But the minute I leave the church, I slip into something a little more comfortable. Suddenly, I find myself gossiping or complaining much quicker than praying for someone. I take off the grace and put on impatience. I find myself caught up "dressing" like those around me. Maybe my language matches others around me, or my morals become influenced by those around me. When I look at the Bible, I notice how Jesus had to correct Simon Peter often.
Peter was the hot head who would swear to be faithful to God one moment, but then let out a string of expletives or show violence by cutting off an ear with a sword (Luke). Jesus even had to correct Peter by saying, "Get behind me Satan." We can get judgmental really quickly and say that Peter made a lousy disciple, or we can look at it from a different angle.
Peter was genuine. When he told Jesus he would never deny him, he meant it. He thought that he was in a more secure standing in his relationship with Jesus than he really was. After he denied Jesus three times, that's when he realized where he relationship with Jesus truly stood. At that point, he poured his soul out to God. It wasn't until Jesus appeared to him after the resurrection and challenged Peter that if he loved Jesus more than what was around him, he would follow Jesus. That's when Peter changed.
When Peter saw that even in his weaknesses, Jesus hadn't given up on him, he realized he could never turn his back on Jesus again. What if we got that kind of realization?
We all think we're in great standing with God, but when we go through turmoil, that's when we find out exactly how secure our relationship with God really is. When we realize that Jesus' love for us stays constant regardless of our actions, we become more genuine with Him. I may be angry at someone, but God's love remains the same.
As we embrace that love, it changes us. No longer are we acting one way in church and another way out of church. Our lives begin to reflect the love and mercy of the one in whom our time is spent. I challenge you. Let your life be genuine and consistent. After all, God sees under the clothes.
Have a great week high-heeled warriors!
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