FASHION

Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with

compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.

Colossians 3:12

Fashion, it would seem, is a form of art. I don’t understand a lot of art out there, and sometimes

when I see the new fashions being displayed on YouTube, I certainly don’t comprehend what in

the world is going on. I’m not necessarily saying I’m the problem, either; some of these trends

are simply beyond outlandish and I deeply hope they never become common attire.

Nevertheless, what we wear makes a statement and identifies us to those around us, even

serving as a way in which we see ourselves.

What are you known for? I’ve met plenty of people in my life so far, and it does seem that

people get known for certain things inevitably. I’ve worked with men who had extreme anger

issues, people who were always down, people who were known for being very smart or funny,

etc. I remember a guy years ago at Liberty University who constantly smiled, and I’ve never

seen anybody yet who has smiled as much. In greater complexity, I think we get known for

different things to different people, don’t we? Groups or individuals may have branded us certain

ways that others have never seen us. Our immediate families view a very different person than

those people, perhaps, at our churches that we may brush against for just a brief amount of time

on a Sunday. Who we are gets known, whether that’s the full picture or not.

Paul writes to the Colossians, “Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved,

clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.” Hmm, here’s a

thought for you: clothing follows suit (no pun intended) with how one sees one’s self. Paul

appeals to this: “as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved.” There’s the foundational

evidence for the clothing that soon follows. What am I going to wear today? Well, perhaps my

mentality for the day is actually informing me how I will dress myself. Don’t you think this is true

all over the place? People dress in alignment with how they see themselves. This is why I don’t

dress like a teenager anymore, by the way.

So if I am one of God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved by Him, there is a call to me, and

to you if you are one of His, too. Clothe yourself. Paul doesn’t talk about clothing, though, he

talks about mannerisms as to how we adorn ourselves. Compassion, kindness, humility,

gentleness, and patience. Oh, what it would be for us to be known for those things. We love

those ways when we see them in others. Unfortunately, we are also quite unused to seeing

people being like this; it tends to be a rarity.

Someday, you’re probably going to die unless Jesus returns. People will gather and a minister

or someone tasked with it will give your eulogy at your funeral. What will they remember you

for? Often, when I read obituaries at funerals, it was who they were related to, where they

worked, perhaps what they were involved in and what they achieved. Rarely did I read in an

obituary how they were as a person. You can paint a pig in makeup but it’s still a pig: so too, you

can dress up a deceased person nicely and say nice things, but how that person was will linger

on in people’s memories and quite frankly there are some things people know at funerals but

they just won’t say. (Please understand, I’m not trying to diminish the honor for deceased people

by this comparison, but the analogy is directed at recognizing nature vs. appearance).

Who are you? What have you become? Who are you becoming? What are you known for?

What are you clothing yourself with as it comes to how you relate to others and what you

magnify with your life? You get one shot and it’s over. If you are one of His chosen people, holy

and dearly loved, live in that truth and clothe yourself in relation to that beautiful identity.

Be blessed, my friend.

Sam Stringer

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