Clothes Don’t Make the Faith
But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your forefathers served beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living. But as for me and my house we will serve the Lord. Joshua 24:15
At church this morning our pastor spoke about appearances. It was a small part of a bigger message but it really hit me. He showed a picture of some Amish or maybe Mennonite people and a picture of Catholic nuns. Though he didn’t use these exact words, his point was, clothes don’t make the faith. We are not wholly based on how we dress or what emblem we plaster on our vehicles, backpacks etc. We can wear the t-shirt, have the bumper sticker and wave the flag without believing one single word or living out the ones we do believe. He is right of course, although I do believe that the habits worn by the nuns are more about purity than anything else. Anyway, I was quite taken with the sermon and especially with that part of it because of something I was thinking about yesterday.
I work in a public school. Every day I encounter a woman who wears a hijaab. Make no mistake, she’s Muslim. I know this not because she has ever spoken to me beyond what is absolutely necessary but because she wears that hijaab, with her jeans, t-shirts and very American designer handbag. It irritates me. I tell myself it shouldn’t. I get aggravated because it does which was what I was confessing yesterday, for the umpteenth time.
Often when I see her I think, what can I wear that screams look at me, I’m a Christian? Yesterday, not for the first time, God answered me, my attitude. Granted I can wear a cross and I do, I have several lovely ones. I can wear other jewelry that reminds people of Jesus but much like Miss Lady’s hijaab it’s just stuff. Miss Lady’s attitude says, “I have no time for you. You are beneath me and my children.” This is not a nice woman, not an approachable woman. I’m not saying that is because of her religion, I’m just stating a fact. A fact that begs the question, what does God want my attitude to say? The answer is simple. He wants my attitude to say, not, look at what I’m wearing or even look at who I am but look at what I have. And what do I have? If I’m relying on my Father I have another thing our pastor mentioned today, a peace that passes understanding. Peace like that ought to show, don’t you think?
As Christians we don’t have a uniform. Even most nuns have stopped wearing habits. What we have that other religions do not is on the inside. We have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit and that ought to shine out of us for all the world to see.
Years ago I was getting out of my car at the Post Office as a woman coming out approached me. I smiled and said hello. She smiled back and then stopped. She heard the music coming from my car, where my teenage children were waiting. She looked at me and said, “I knew you were a Christian, I could just tell.” That made my day, my week, my month and writing it now it still makes me feel good. That’s what I want to hear. That is what I want people to see.
I’m not sure who Miss Lady in the hijaab is actually representing or why she chooses to represent that faith but I do know who I serve and I want that to be brilliantly apparent.
At church this morning our pastor spoke about appearances. It was a small part of a bigger message but it really hit me. He showed a picture of some Amish or maybe Mennonite people and a picture of Catholic nuns. Though he didn’t use these exact words, his point was, clothes don’t make the faith. We are not wholly based on how we dress or what emblem we plaster on our vehicles, backpacks etc. We can wear the t-shirt, have the bumper sticker and wave the flag without believing one single word or living out the ones we do believe. He is right of course, although I do believe that the habits worn by the nuns are more about purity than anything else. Anyway, I was quite taken with the sermon and especially with that part of it because of something I was thinking about yesterday.
I work in a public school. Every day I encounter a woman who wears a hijaab. Make no mistake, she’s Muslim. I know this not because she has ever spoken to me beyond what is absolutely necessary but because she wears that hijaab, with her jeans, t-shirts and very American designer handbag. It irritates me. I tell myself it shouldn’t. I get aggravated because it does which was what I was confessing yesterday, for the umpteenth time.
Often when I see her I think, what can I wear that screams look at me, I’m a Christian? Yesterday, not for the first time, God answered me, my attitude. Granted I can wear a cross and I do, I have several lovely ones. I can wear other jewelry that reminds people of Jesus but much like Miss Lady’s hijaab it’s just stuff. Miss Lady’s attitude says, “I have no time for you. You are beneath me and my children.” This is not a nice woman, not an approachable woman. I’m not saying that is because of her religion, I’m just stating a fact. A fact that begs the question, what does God want my attitude to say? The answer is simple. He wants my attitude to say, not, look at what I’m wearing or even look at who I am but look at what I have. And what do I have? If I’m relying on my Father I have another thing our pastor mentioned today, a peace that passes understanding. Peace like that ought to show, don’t you think?
As Christians we don’t have a uniform. Even most nuns have stopped wearing habits. What we have that other religions do not is on the inside. We have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit and that ought to shine out of us for all the world to see.
Years ago I was getting out of my car at the Post Office as a woman coming out approached me. I smiled and said hello. She smiled back and then stopped. She heard the music coming from my car, where my teenage children were waiting. She looked at me and said, “I knew you were a Christian, I could just tell.” That made my day, my week, my month and writing it now it still makes me feel good. That’s what I want to hear. That is what I want people to see.
I’m not sure who Miss Lady in the hijaab is actually representing or why she chooses to represent that faith but I do know who I serve and I want that to be brilliantly apparent.
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