Getting Dressed (Part 1)

Why is it we as women have such a difficult time every morning trying to figure out what we are going to wear for the day? Our morning deliberation will start out by standing in front of a closet full of clothes telling ourselves we have nothing to wear, sorting through hangers of clothing that may have very well been in our closet for over 10 years and we are lucky if those items still fit. We try to weed through the thoughts of what mood we are in for the day and then proceed to match our clothing with our mood. If we are feeling bright and cheery, we may pick out a spring color, something vibrant and bold. If we are feeling drab and melancholy we may end up pulling something dark and heavy colored. If we are feeling self-conscious and wishing we just had our girly figure back we may pull something out of our husband's closet to hide in for the day. Whatever the situation we face each morning it seems to end up in this long debate over what to cloth our body in for the day.

Despite our see-saw battle each morning with clothing God has a very different approach to what we should be wearing.

“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes?” Matthew 6:26

“...People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” 1 Samuel 16:7b

It is our spiritual clothing that God desires us to clothe ourselves in each day, but what does spiritual clothing look like? In the next few posts, I hope to share what God’s word tells us we are to clothe ourselves in each day.

Put on Jesus

“Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the flesh.” Romans 13:14

There is nothing better that we can walk out the door with every morning then making sure we clothe ourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ.  

Put on the full armor of God

“Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes.” Ephesians 6:11

“Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.” Ephesians 6:13

“ But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, putting on faith and love as a breastplate, and the hope of salvation as a helmet.” 1 Thessalonians 5:8

“The night is nearly over; the day is almost here. So let us put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light.” Romans 13:12

So what is the full armor of God look like? According to Ephesians 6:1-20 it lists out

• Belt of truth (vs. 14)
• Breastplate of righteousness (vs. 14)
• Feet fitted with readiness (vs. 15)
• Shield of faith (vs. 16)
• Helmet of salvation (vs. 17)
• Sword of the spirit (vs 17)
• Prayer (vs. 18)

This takes work each and every morning to get out of bed and remember to put on each and every one of these things. What happens when we do not put on our helmet for the day? The devil has permission to have a field day with our minds. What happens when we do not put on the breastplate? Satan takes the liberty to break our hearts. We can prevent so much from happening in our lives when we remember to put one each of these things daily.

Put on compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience

“Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience.” Colossians 3:12

“In the same way, you who are younger, submit yourselves to your elders. All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because, “God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble.” 1 Peter 5:5

What a list to start with! I love Colossians 3:12. It is such a powerhouse verse! If we want to make sure we walk out the door fully dressed and ready for our day then we really should start with this verse. When we look at the life of Christ, He was rich in compassion, full of kindness and humility and overflowing with gentleness and patience. I think about my personal walk and I feel like I would be doing well if I could just get dressed with half this list in the morning. It’s hard to make sure we walk out the door with gentleness and patience, let alone kindness and humility. I can usually get kindness on, but the other three takes some labor intensive work at times to get dressed in.

This is only part of the list of items that the word of God tells us to clothe ourselves in. I don’t know about you, but sometimes I walk out the door a bit under dressed. Whether it means I have forgotten to put one several piece of my armor, or I have failed at putting on patience and gentleness for the day, I am often a few clothing items short of being fully dressed!

Lord, your word tells us the importance of being purposeful about clothing ourselves in specific items. Help us to actively put these items on each and every day. Some of these items are for our protection, others are for your glory to be shown through us. For both reasons, it is important for us to clothe ourselves daily.