“clothe yourselves”
“Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the flesh.”
Romans 13:14
“Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.”
Colossians 3:12
The term “clothe yourselves” used in the bible is so beautiful to me because when I think about it, what I wear is one of the biggest things I use to express myself. As a society, we use fashion to express ourselves, our interests, and many use it as a creative outlet, and connection point to grow in deeper relationship with other likeminded people. And as true followers of Christ, we want to glorify God in everything that we do, which is why we use things like the cross necklace to represent God and let others know that we believe in Jesus, and t-shirts that say “Jesus loves you!” even as a form of evangelism. There is a lot of beauty in the ability to use what we wear to express ourselves, and can say a lot about who you are and what you represent.
When Paul says to “clothe yourselves” I believe that he is going deeper than just our outward appearances, but rather an invitation to accept and choose to “put on” the qualities of Jesus- because it is a choice, every single day. Like it is a choice every day to pick out our clothes, it is a choice to come into agreement with the person that God has created you to be. With the same intentionality and care we use to pick out outfits that best represent who WE are, choose to let your actions reflect who CHRIST is. Let us choose to “put on” the qualities of a child of God, knowing that we are ambassators of Christ, before we are brand ambassators on instagram. Before the world knows us for our outward appearaence, before they even see us, let us “put on” compassion, love, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience, wearing those qualities proud. As children of God, we are called to glorify God in every area of our lives. Before anyone sees me for what I look like on the outside, I pray that the light of the holy spirit that dwells within me, would shine brighter and people would see Jesus before they see me. When I interact with people, I want them to feel the love of Jesus, the same love that changed my life and made me feel confident in the person that He has created me to be and helped me step into the calling he has placed on my life.
In order to do that, it takes surrender.
“Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it. What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul?”
Matthew 16:24-26
The things of this world are fleeting. The attention you get from that ONE outfit- it doesn’t last forever. (especially for the people who refuse to repeat their fits, which is wild to me). And although there is nothing wrong for getting attention for the way you look, that does NOT define you.
This is probably one of the biggest things I struggle with right now. The voices of the world are so loud, the voices of my family and my friends can be even louder, and the critical voice in my head is the loudest, but none of them matter more than the voice of my Father. He has a lot of thoughts about you, and they are ALL good (Psalm 139:17-18). He created you with a purpose and a plan, and he wants to use you EXACTLY the way that he created you.
So there is no reason to listen to all of the voices and let them dictate who you are. There is no reason to compare yourselves to others. There is no need to try and fit inside of the box created by your friends, society, family, etc or take on a certain style to make yourself feel included. There is no need to hide the parts of yourself that you think people aren’t going to accept, because 1. it gets exhausting trying to keep up with everyone, and 2. it actually keeps you from being authentic and from being fully loved and cherished and valued as a person- which is ultimately what we are searching for in the first place.
And also, God is most glorified when you’re being yourself.
Hear me out.
We were made in the image of God, and everything that He’s made is good. (Genesis 1) We were born to be in relationship with God, but we need to make that choice. When we come into alignment with God’s will for our lives, which is to be in relationship with Him, (Ephesians 1) walking with him, accepting his conviction and his love, grace, and mercy, we start to find and develop pieces of ourselves- spirital gifts, passions, etc, we did not even know were within reach. Jackie Hill Perry explains it so simply, yet it is so profound- “Unity with Christ does not dissolve personality, it clarifies it.”.
So trust him. Surrender your life to him. Walk confidently in who he has created you to be. Take delight in the Lord, grow in relationship with him, seek first the kingdom and His righteousness, and then trust that everything else will be added and trust that he will give you your heart’s desires. (Matthew 6:33, Psalms 37:4)
Be confident in who God as created you to be, all of your interests, your personality, even your looks, if surrendered over to God, can be refined and used to give Him glory.
