The Preacher's Pen

"Dressing badly can be taken as contempt for other people or not being serious. Clothing is a way to show others that you have respect and consideration for others and the situation at hand. If you have respect for the church, for example, you don't show up in shorts and a T-shirt on Sunday morning. And if you have a reasonable sensibility about the traditions of the theater, you wouldn't wear cut-offs and flip-flops to a Broadway play."

I clipped that quote from an article on a website about men's fashion. Its author, Andy Gilchrist, urges men to remember the impression their clothing makes on others, whether we like it or not. I find it telling that this thoroughly secular writer would use an illustration about going to church. He even goes so far as to say that showing up for worship services in rather casual apparel is a sign of disrespect.

Now I am not so foolish as to believe that this brief piece will end the debate about what to wear to services but it ought to give us something to think about, shouldn't it? While fully understanding that God looks upon a person's heart, not their appearance (1 Samuel 16:7), Mr. Gilchrist correctly points out that other people can't do that. Therefore, they will (right or wrong) form a judgment about you based to some extent on what you are wearing. Now, if serving the Lord is as important as we claim it is, why would we want to wear anything that would cause someone to say we have no respect for God and His worship services?

This is the message about dressing for services that folks need to hear. No person can mandate a dress code for services. To do so would be to legislate where God has not, and to endlessly complicate the whole matter. All we are asking is that every Christian's conduct and dress be handled in such a way that the message of how important this is will be clear and understandable to all. Yes, for some shorts and a T-shirt may be the best they have, and so they will have to do the best they can in that. But for most of us we are able to better conform to the sensibilities of those around us and therefore need to do so. If Mr. Gilchrist can understand that in his secular fashion column, surely the children of light can too.