Faithful Fashion

Colossians 3

One task I tend to put off is changing over the clothes in my closet at the beginning of a new season. When it comes to fashion, I have always valued comfort over couture. This passage from Colossians presents us with a closet full of pieces that resemble my own closet space: pieces that are not necessarily fashionable or comfortable: compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, patience, and love. Should I put them on today? Will they fit?

Humility might feel a little loose, patience too constricting. I might feel like shoving compassion to the back of the closet because I wear it so often that I get tired of it. I know many people judge these pieces of mine as old-fashioned, not really suited for today’s climate or not offering enough protection against the elements.

But we are God’s beloved. The items in our closet are timeless classics, communicating clearly who we are and whose we are, and what we value most. We are daily clothed in Christ. It is not always comfortable, but it is exactly what we should wear.

I love how God clothes us daily in His love. Nothing can begin to compare with His might or power and yet, this all-powerful God knows our names, hears our prayers, and frees us from sin and death by the saving work of Jesus.

It is so easy to forget who we are. First there are the voices that come to us from outside ourselves, describing our successes or failures based on the values of this world. The ideal human being is often perceived as thin, rich, powerful, and smart. If we are not beautiful, at least we know how to dress well.

Then there are the voices that come to us from inside ourselves, reminding us what we will never do, never be, never have. I know God would not talk to me this way, but I still wonder where this relentless critical chorus comes from that never seems to tire of telling me I am too lazy, too clumsy, weak, spoiled, thick-headed. There are days when it sounds true, and days when I’m certain it is the voice of the Tempter, and I am able to fight back. God made us. God does not make junk.

Sometimes my one friend grimaces when she sees how I am dressed for the day. “Doesn’t this match?” I ask. “No way. Not even close!” she’ll reply. I wonder how often people who know that I am Christian look at my life and grimace because I don’t always match. That is to say, what I do and what I believe don’t always match. I say I am a Christian but sometimes others could rightly say of my life, ”No way. Not even close!”

Here is God’s solution: “For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourself with Christ.” (Galatians 32). Do you see what God has done for us? He has dressed us in the perfect outfit. Right now we are wearing the most beautiful clothing ever, made from the threads of Jesus’ perfect life and woven together on the loom of the cross.

When I get deep into the closet, finally tackling the cleaning that I have long put off, I think about the passage in Exodus 32 where Moses finds the people of Israel worshipping a golden calf. It is in the back corner of my closet where I find my “golden calves.” One fatal idol in my life is collecting and storing clothing for the possible life I might have, not the life I do have. And I know I am also worshipping a false idol when I believe I can organize everything in my life all by myself and have things absolutely perfect. The only perfection in my life, in our life together, is the love of God for all of us, made perfect in the death and resurrection of Jesus. God loves us because God created us; not because of anything we have done. God is a God of the past, the present, and the future whose promise of a relationship has no expiration date.

Unfortunately, as humans, we tend to pick and choose—to reject the parts of life that we do not like and keep shopping for the parts that we do like. When God’s gifts come wrapped in shiny paper, we say, “Thank you very much.” But there are days when those gifts arrive on our doorstep wrapped in old newspaper, held together with masking tape. Then we feel like taking a magic marker and writing RETURN TO SENDER on the box. But there is another way open to us. We can accept what we have and work with it. We can take it apart piece by piece, if necessary, because in doing that we will discover God inside.

I think I can face cleaning that closet now. As I work at organizing, I would like to get rid of discontent. I can reexamine all the activities that I think I own—the money I earned to buy the clothes, the time I took shopping, washing, ironing, and fantasizing that this wardrobe was entirely my doing and somehow makes me look better.

As I touch each piece of clothing, it’s a moment to give thanks, to remember that every minute of insight, growth, and joy comes from God who made us capable of comprehension. Our entire life story would not have happened if God had not brought it about in ways beyond our understanding.

In those moments of thankfulness, I can begin to let go of my self-preoccupation, to set aside greed and focus less on what I want and more on all that freely comes to us all. It doesn’t matter about the clothes. We can tell our story in a different way. We can cherish more dearly, value more conscientiously, and protect more fiercely.