Dress for the Occasion – 2

Your wardrobe should speak clearly of the dignity of your calling.

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Text for Today – 2 Timothy 4:2 – . . . instant in season out of season . . .

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When I write of dressing for the occasion, my focus in toward one’s attire as it relates to place in Christ, the anointing(s) one carries, and the God-established purpose for one’s life.  I believe it imperative for the believer that our appearance, especially as it relates to our behavior, attitude,  I wish to emphasize at this point that there are many godly men and women who do not have great fineries of life in their daily apparel.  I have known many who labored at difficult jobs throughout their lives, jobs that required them to sweat from their intensity, and as many have put it, get dirt under their fingernails.  Yet in all their labors, in all their sweat, and with all the dirt beneath their nails, even when at their lowest moments, they were people of dignity, people of honor, people of integrity, who loved the Lord supremely, and loved their neighbors as themselves.  There were times that the circumstances of life certainly prevented them from presenting themselves in their finest garb, but never, at no point, were they ever found without their Christian dignity, their testimony and witness, and their honor as sons and daughters of our great God, Jehovah. 

Their dress was always the whole armor of God.  They were girt about the loins with truth, always standing of the Word of God for their life and provision.  Their feet were continually shod with the gospel of peace.  They were peacemakers indeed, their hearts being filled with the manifest peace of God that passes understanding.  They wore the breastplate of righteousness, unstained by the world and continually cleansed by the washing of the water by the Word.  The helmet of salvation was always an element of their crowning glory, and they wore it with honor.  Above all they carried their shield of faith, and in battle after battle in life, regardless of circumstances, walked in God-pleasing faith, always holding fast to their profession.  And I can attest to the keenness of the blade we know as the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God.  On many occasions, I have witnessed them as they marched fearlessly into battle, clad in God’s armor, fighting the good fight of faith, and emerging in victory, their honor, faith, and Christian dignity untarnished by any of the enemy’s devices.

Such saints were, and continue to be great models of what I write here.  They live their lives in a constant state of readiness to give an answer of the hope that lies within them.  When the season in right, when things bode well for them, they rejoice in Christ and glorify God.  And when all things of the season seem to be going wrong, in the most difficult of trials or tribulations, they rejoice in Christ and glorify.  When the garden of life is in full bloom, they are faithful.  And when the furnace is heated seven times hotter, they remain faithful, for their Lord walks with them in the flames.  Clad well in their garments of righteousness, they honor God.

Manna for Today – Ephesians  6:10-18; Isaiah 59:15-21