What will I wear?

Our son is getting married in a little more than two weeks from today. This will be a theme wedding but more about the guests than the bridal party. We are supposed to come in “old Hollywood glamour.” Yesterday, I went to several shops before finding the perfect dress. It is the right color and certainly glamorous. I felt like a movie star when I tried it on, yet lest I get too focused in a worldly direction, God reminds me this morning of far more important wearing apparel.

For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. (Galatians 3:27)

A. J. Gordon writes the devotional for today. He says that when Christians put on Christ, we are not simply putting on the righteousness of our Savior and the beauty of His holiness or the graces of His character; the Lord Himself is our garment. We are not only Christ-bearers but Christ-wearers. What a wonderful thought!

This means that I can enter into Him and be so endued with His presence and filled with His Spirit that when others look at me, they see Him. This is an amazing reality, and putting on Christ is far more important than what I wear to cover my body. A new dress may change how I look, but Jesus Christ changes how I behave.

But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires. (Romans 13:14)

This is possible for every Christian, those who have heard and learned about Jesus, but also repented of sin and been regenerated or made new because of God’s grace through faith. We then have the power to make a choice about what we wear.

…assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness. (Ephesians 4:21–24)

As I think about these things, I am still excited about my new dress, but totally agree with these thoughts from God today. No matter what I wear to that wedding, it is more important to put on Christ and let Him and His grace become what people see and remember, not my clothes.

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Father, as usual, Your timing is perfect. You offer words of grace and wisdom, words that strike me right where I am and according to what I need. Of course new or fancy clothing is not even close to being clothed in the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. I want You to be glorified at this event, and every day of my life. Having Your Son seen in me is the greater thing. Don’t let me block the reality of You by being focused on a mere dress.