Basketball Shorts, Sweatpants, and Ratty T-Shirts

Yesterday morning, I called the kids to hurry and head out the door so we would be on time for church. But as they appeared from their various places in the house... I saw basketball shorts, old t-shirts that looked fit for the rag pile, sweatpants, crocs, and the like. 

I haven't been too stringent about dress appearance for church, especially over the year of Covid, but it occurred to me that our kids looked like they had woken up in a laundry basket and crawled out of it, wearing whatever just happened to cling to them. 

The contrast was a sharp one from my own memories of dresses I'd worn to church, and then later, arguments (which I'd lost) with my parents over wearing jeans to church on Wednesday nights for prayer meetings. 

While I recognize that times (and dress expectations) have changed since I was a kid, it has still been a deeply-ingrained concept that has been rooted in me for years: You dress up when you go to church.

Yesterday morning, I had to examine my motives. Because as soon as I saw what my kids were wearing, I ordered them all back to their rooms to change clothes, and as soon as the words left my mouth, there was an immediate eruption of whining. "But moooooommmmmm..." Protest, protest, protest.

I explained the reasoning that had been the reasoning when I was a kid: You show respect for the Lord and His house when you go to church, and that means dressing up.

But let me tell you, my kids are goooood. They're really good. "Doesn't the Bible say that man looks on the outward appearance, but God looks on the heart? And isn't God more interested in our hearts than in our physical appearances? And if our hearts are right, then why do our clothes matter?"

And you know what? 

I had no answer. I really wanted to have a know-it-all answer, but they'd stumped me. And they knew it as soon as they saw my hesitation.

So my kids wore sweatpants, basketball shorts, crocs, and ratty t-shirts to church yesterday.

But we had a little talk about heart condition, too. I told them, based on their arguments, that I was going to let them wear their clothing choices. However, I wanted them to fully examine where they stood before the Lord, what their own hearts were like in their relationship with Him.

They grinned (they'd won), and nodded. Of course, of course, that's what they'd do, no worries, they were examining away.

We also talked about job interviews (not as random as it sounds), because I said, it didn't matter what they "felt" like wearing on the day of the interview. Their employer would judge them by their outward appearance, however just or unjust that was, and they needed to understand that sometimes, it mattered about clothing choices.

But we left the church dress debate as it was... and I stepped away from it, defeated.

This morning, the Lord nudged my eyes to Romans 13:13-14. In context, Paul is discussing loving our fellow man, for the reason that the end of time is near -- "near" being fairly relative. Think of Peter's "With the Lord, a day is as a thousand years and a thousand years are as a day" (2 Peter 3:8). 

Paul says: "Do this (love one another), understanding the present time. The hour has come for you to wake up from your slumber, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed. The night is nearly over; the day is almost here. So let us put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light." 

In other words: Straighten up the ranks; the Commander is arriving to inspect the troops.

The Scriptures are clear that while we are on this earth, in this state of imperfection and sin, we will battle evil. It's a part of our sin nature, and it isn't until Jesus returns for His bride that we will finally, finally be able to put aside that struggle forever. "Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known" (1 Corinthians 13:12).

It's clear that where there is sin, there is struggle, there is battle, and until Jesus comes again, we will fight. 

It's essential that we fight, because the minute we surrender... we've lost. We're lost.

Paul goes on in Romans 13:13-14: "Let us behave decently, as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and debauchery, not in dissension and jealousy. Rather, clothe yourself with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the sinful nature." 

Paul, bless him, loves his lists. We find them throughout his letters, and this "list" is a similar one to some others: Galatians 5:19-21, for example. 

Don't participate in orgies. Don't get drunk. Don't be sexually immoral. Don't let debauchery be a part of your life. These are things I've read over so many times, I could say them in my sleep.

This morning, this one caught my attention: Don't behave with dissension and jealousy.

I feel like this last year, especially, in the church, dissension has kind of been the name of the game we've played. I don't know how to say it in any other way. People have spoken, and other people have protested. Vehemently. And so the first group protests back. And the second group responds. And suddenly, voila, before we even have a second to think about it... we're divided. We're broken.

Jesus says: "Every kingdom divided against itself will be ruined, and every city or household divided against itself will not stand" (Matthew 12:25-26). 

I've never considered "dissensions" that much before, because it never felt as important as the big-ticket things, like sexual immorality and debauchery and orgies. 

But it's true: dissension and jealousy is just as detrimental to the body of Christ, to our command to love each other, as are orgies, drunkenness, sexual immorality, and debauchery. Why?

Because they're sin. And sin divides us from the Father. We are forgiven of our sins when we accept Jesus' saving work on the cross, but if we do not accept what He did for us -- we are still divided from the Father. That is the worst dissension. That is the worst division. Far worse than vaccine divisions. Mask divisions. Racial divisions. Etc.

So how to combat that spirit of dissension/division, which I wrote about here on August 12, 2021? 

"Clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the sinful nature."

Here's the thing: What's on the inside, our heart condition, is what will be seen on the outside. So here's what I learned through my discussion with my kids yesterday: basketball shorts, sweatpants, and ratty t-shirts aside, if their hearts are evident because of the praise on their lips when they're singing out their hearts to God (Psalm 34:1), that's what is important. If their hearts are evident because of they are studying their Scripture to show themselves approved (2 Timothy 2:15), that's what is important. 

Whether my kids are in that space or not is between them and God, and I will do my absolute best as their parent to guide them that way. But I learned yesterday that my battle should not be concerning their clothing; rather, it should be concerning what is in their hearts.

So Paul offers us this picture: Clothe yourself with the Lord Jesus Christ. In doing so, we aren't thinking about the things in Paul's list. We're thinking only about what Jesus is doing in us. 

It's kind of a problem that fixes itself, isn't it? We spend so much time wondering which path to take, praying and pleading with the Lord to show us the way to go...

When if we are "clothed" in Him, we are already exactly where He wants us to be. 

I used to pray for "sky-writing." "Lord, show me Your will for my life. Just... make it so evident that it's like... writing in the sky. I look up, and there it is." 

I didn't necessarily consider this: I am clothed in my Lord Jesus Christ, and in being so clothed... I'm already in His will. Doing exactly what He wants me to do. Separating myself from dissension and jealousy.

Here's the thing about clothing: You put on your pajamas every night, you put new clothes on every morning, right? This is a continual choice. You choose Jesus... every day. I feel like sometimes we get entrenched in the idea that we are in a race for "top-dog on the totem pole," sitting at the "right hand of Jesus" (see Mark 10:35-45), and then once we've attained that position, we're done! Our work is over! No more hassle; we've made it.

Again, as long as we are in our bodies, we will struggle. This is a journey. Our destination is heaven. And we will continue to grow or stray as long as we are in these bodies.

There is no static position at the right hand of Jesus. We make the choice daily to clothe ourselves with Him... or not.

What is the condition of our wardrobe? What are we putting on today? Tomorrow? It's your decision; it's my decision. He's ready and waiting. But we get to choose what we're going to wear.