I was a bit of a celebrity in grade school. I grew up on Long Island, 60 miles east of New York City, and I had a “hunter’s orange” sweatshirt I often wore. There was no hunting that I knew of on Long Island, and the only guns I was familiar with in New York were what the police carried and “the bad guys” used. But that orange sweatshirt was loud and bright, and you could see me coming throughout the school and neighborhood. I wore it proudly. Once I gave a speech in English class about my sweatshirt, and it was quite funny, and all my class mates talked about my good speech and looked forward to my next one. Even at graduation, people reminisced, “That was a cool sweatshirt back then.”
We wear different clothes for different occasions today, but it seems that as times change, so do our styles. Our culture is not as formal as it was in previous centuries – old black and white photos show people wearing dresses and suits and ties a lot – but today I expect a suit and tie from my lawyer and “business casual” from my doctor or accountant. Jeans and shorts and bummy t-shirts are good for yard work and puttering around the house. We all have a favorite piece of clothing, from comfortable shoes to warm sweaters.
Outward clothes say something about you, but what about your “inner clothes”, the “clothes of your soul?” We who know and follow Jesus are told to put off our old selves and put on Jesus, like clothes. We are to clothe ourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness. Having become His children, adopted as sons and daughters into His family, we don’t walk in the former ways as we used to (our old clothes), but walk in a new way, “wearing Jesus”, and being and doing in His name, as He would. This is the most important clothing of all.
I don’t remember whatever happened to that orange sweatshirt, but I know the clothes I wear today. Are you “wearing Jesus”? What type of clothing do you wear? Do others recognize “Jesus clothing” on you? Maybe it’s time for a wardrobe make-over…