Wearing the Clothes of Christ in the World Today
By Jessica Brodie
Have you ever been wearing the wrong clothing for some occasion and felt like a total fraud?
When I was about five years old, my mom and aunt told me we were going to a garage sale. Now, I’d never been to a garage sale, nor had I ever heard of one before, but the way they said it made it seem like a terribly exciting event. And naturally, I wanted to look my best.
So I disappeared to my bedroom, put on my fanciest church dress and patent leather shoes, and reappeared, ready to go—only they were dressed in shorts and a T-shirt and totally baffled about why I was all dressed up.
I promptly burst into tears. How could we possibly go to something as magnificent as a garage sale in normal clothes? It took a lot of explaining for my little-girl mind to understand a garage sale didn’t require formal attire.
It’s funny how we think certain places or events require certain clothes.
For instance, I’d never wear shorts to the office, nor would I wear heels to a 5K. After college, I taught writing at my local university for a few years, and because I was in my early twenties at the time, I always wore a blazer, convinced my professional clothing would make my students take me more seriously. It worked, or so I think.
Today after church, my husband and I went to look for gardening supplies and check out chicken coops, and we stopped by our house so I could change into sneakers and jeans—I didn’t want to be wearing cute strappy sandals and a ruffly shirt while inspecting soil and garden equipment. As I rationalized, how could I possibly be in the right mindset to decide on anything without the proper attire?
Silly me… as if it makes a difference. I still didn’t know what I was doing there in the gardening aisle regardless of what I was wearing, though I’m sure we’ll figure it out eventually.
But sometimes, clothes do matter.
In Galatians 3:27, the apostle Paul writes that “all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ” (NIV).
In Colossians 3:12 he echoes this, urging us, “Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.”
Of course, he didn’t mean clothes as in mere fabrics that cover our bodies.
Paul wanted us to understand that we wear the love and grace and Gospel of Christ like a garment, a cloak that protects us and also identifies us as belonging to the Lord.
Because we belong to Christ, we shine his light. We reflect him. Like a conduit, we point to God with our lives and the way we represent him.
But putting on these special clothes—these “Jesus clothes”—doesn’t just happen. It’s not a passive “Shazaam!” that happens to us just because.
Putting on our Jesus clothes is a choice we make. We must strive to accept the clothing, and then wear them with boldness. We must be willing to be Christ’s instrument in the world, fulfilling his command to “go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” (Matthew 28:19-20).
Years before Christ came, the prophet Isaiah accepted the honor of representing God in the world despite the hardship this entailed. As we’re told in Isaiah 6:8, “Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, ‘Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?’ And I said, ‘Here am I. Send me!’”
Similarly, the first disciples wore those clothes when, instead of retreating into safety, they elected to go into a hostile world to share the good news.
We wear those clothes today when we proclaim Jesus’s name—in our workplaces, in our schools, in our communities, even in the darkest of times and in the scariest of situations.
That’s my question today: Am I wearing the wrong “clothes,” through actions or statements that don’t identify me as a follower of Christ? Or am I shining the light of Christ to others in all I say and do, in how I interact with the world?
Are you?
