I have a confession! LOL!

 

I have a confession to make. I am a bit of an "ORGANIZATION FREAK." Yes, I crave order, routine, predictability, stability, and abhor CHAOS. So, right now I am in my office at home, my closet doors are open and I am staring into them and realize I have a problem. No, it is not a problem that will affect my salvation or world peace, but I might be a bit obsessive. I have two closets. In one closet I have my long sleeve shirts with the dress shirts on one end, my casual shirts on the other end, with lighter weight long sleeve shirts together, flannel shirts together in one location and sweatshirts also grouped together in another location. In the other closet I have my dress short sleeve shirts separated from my more casual dress shirts. But, maybe the most obsessive thing I do is rotate my shirts. I do this for good reason, in my mind. I have some favorite shirts and I would literally wear them every day, so I make sure I always wear shirts from the left side of the closet and hang recently washed clothes on the right side of each type of shirt. As you can probably guess, Stephanie thinks I am a bit eccentric and no, I do not let her hang up my clothes, she alwasy does it wrong. LOL! (I love you honey!)

OK, I know you are thinking "This guy has a problem and what does this have to do with scripture?"

"Since God chose you to be the holy people he loves, you must clothe yourselves with tenderhearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. Make allowance for each other's faults, and forgive anyone who offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others. Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds us all together in perfect harmony. And let the peace that comes from Christ rule in your hearts. For as members of one body you are called to live in peace. And always be thankful." (Colossians 3:12-15, NLT)

The word "clothe" is repeated twice within this short passage and I was captivated by it this morning. In many of the other bible versions it is translated as "put on." Think about putting on the full armor of God. But, the greek word is better translated as "clothe." 

When I leave the confines of my home each day, I want to make sure my clothing is representative of who I am. It, by no means, has to be flashy, expensive, or showy. That is not who I am. I am a simple follower of Jesus, living a simple life. I want my clothing to represent who I am. I don't have designer clothing, I don't spend huge amounts of money on name brands and my daughters would say my clothing is a bit old fashioned (right Kelley!) BUT I AM OLD, so it really does fit my personality and who I am. 

YOUR CLOTHING TELLS A STORY ABOUT YOU, even if it is a simple story. 

Paul was saying the same thing about being clothed in the character of Jesus Christ. I should be MORE OBSESSIVE about how I represent Jesus in this world than how I represent my outward physical appearance, my clothing. Sometimes, I confess, I spend a whole lot more time determining what to wear than HOW I SHOULD ACT TODAY. Does anyone else do the same thing? In more recent years, since I began a life of FULL-TIME MINISTRY, I have been aware how my character and my actions represent Jesus. I should have concerned myself with those things before! It really doesn't matter if we are in full-time ministry, if we are a follower of Jesus we need to CLOTHE OURSELVES IN JESUS CHRIST!

We are Christ's ambassadors in this world. We are scrutinized and observed in all that we do. Paul gave us a great list of things we should be aware of and YES, we should obsess on representing JESUS in this world!