“You sure clean up nice.” 

Ever had that said to you?  I have and if you haven’t you have probably heard it or even said it yourself.  In my case, there are some people that have never seen me except when I am installing cabinets.  I can definitely say that I do look a little different when I go to church, or even out to eat. 

But I am not different.  I am the same person with sweaty, sawdust encrusted work clothes that I am when I have a suit and tie on.  You would probably rather be around me in the suit though. 

We look like different people sometimes due to the clothes we put on.  People do have a tendency to evaluate our worthiness based on what we wear; or to go deeper, in our outer appearance.  Is this fair? 

No, it is not.  As I said, what I wear has no bearing on who I am.  How someone perceives me also has no bearing on who I am either.  Therefore it is okay to wear what I want, do what I want, and look like whatever I want.  Right? 

Wrong.  We are to be examples.  As I said and as you probably know from personal experience, some people have, or get, a wrong opinion about us.  And that does nothing to advance the Kingdom.  When I hear a Christian say that they can just do whatever they want I am saddened.  There are a lot of people watching us that are lost and serving the enemy.  A lot of people that might just be persuaded to look at joining us, if we looked any different than they do. 

I read the book of Titus tonight.  There is a lot of information that Paul gives us in this book about how we should look, to the world.  If you haven’t read it lately, please do so.  But I want to pull out a couple of verses.

Tit 2:7  in all things show yourself to be an example of good deeds, with purity in doctrine, dignified,

Tit 2:8  sound in speech which is beyond reproach, so that the opponent will be put to shame, having nothing bad to say about us.

Show yourself to be an example…so that the opponent will be put to shame, having nothing bad to say about us.

This is simply more warfare strategy.  I am not sure if Paul is talking about the enemy of our soul or just about the deceivers he mentioned before these verses.  Either way, when we put any true opponent to shame, and limit the bad they can say about us, we have won a small battle for the Kingdom. Our enemy is all about discrediting us.  

As Christians we sometimes wear the wrong clothes.  We sometimes look just like the world around us.  We should stand out. 

Once when I was in the US Army, stationed in Tacoma Washington, there was a gang that was targeting soldiers.  They had beaten a couple of soldiers bad enough to put them in the hospital.  Our commander warned us to not wear our uniforms off base, if we would be alone. He told us that discretion would be the better part of valor. 

Soldiers also wear camouflage in battle to hide or blend in.  But we are soldiers in another army.  We are soldiers in the Army of God.  Jesus never said to be discreet.  Instead boldness is the very way we do battle.  And our uniform can never blend in because it is pure white.

Act 4:31  And when they had prayed, the place where they had gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak the word of God with boldness.

Rev 3:5  ‘He who overcomes will thus be clothed in white garments; and I will not erase his name from the book of life, and I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels.

Rev 19:14  And the armies which are in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, were following Him on white horses.

Are you wearing your uniform?

Love you all

Tags: Acceptance, Appearance, Identity, Kingdom, Service, Spiritual Warfare, Uniform, US Army