Ready for a sackcloth and wild honey..
>> Thursday, March 11, 2010
I go to a church every Thursday morning where a large group of women come to worship and study the Bible. I love it. I do...
But all of the women dress so beautifully. Many of them have lots of money.
There are all of these extra special events that cost money.
And I find myself worrying about my clothes.
Instead of worshipping God, I start feeling inferior in a sea of designer jeans and expensive perfume...and then I get kind of mad...
I wonder if this is really what the Christian life is all about.
Is it really about fancy clothes and money?
It's more than just the clothes.
It's the fact that we feel the need to pretty ourselves up and only show the versions of ourselves that have it all together.
And this version is fake.
I want to smack that version in the face (in Christian love, of course) and tell it to quit wearing a mask.
I don't know about you, but I am a mess.
A hot mess.
I am broken and self-centered.
I have a difficult time holding it together most days.
I can fake it pretty well...
But maybe I am tired of faking it.
Maybe I am tired of popularity contests.
I am tired of labels and "So, what do you do for a living?"
Do our jobs define us?
Do our clothes define us?
I am tempted to go all John the Baptist up in here...
Instead, I will not allow anything other than my love for the Creator define me.
And this is what I so desperately want to see in the Church.
I love the Church. I do not want to bash it...
But right about now a large number of us are representing the bride of Christ as if she were a cracked out version of Barbie.
Her Groom deserves better than that.
3 comments:
Let me say - I know how you feel. I get where you're coming from. But, if I would be angry at those designer jean women for turning up their noses at your sackcloth, should I be angry with you turning up your nose at their designer jeans?
It's all a distraction from the enemy. He waves any sort of "flag" in front of our faces to keep us from focusing on what we came to Bible study and worship to do.
Our clothes DON'T (or at least shouldn't)define us - whether they be tie-dyed, full of holes, hand-me-downs or from the Gap or Younkers. A prideful person clothed in Wal-mart clothes is just as ugly in God's eyes as a prideful person dripping with diamonds. You can have pride in being poor and in being rich. You can wear a "mask of fakeness" no matter how much you pay for your clothes.
The gals with the Gucci bags shouldn't have to leave them at home just because everyone at church may not have one. As long as they don't go around flaunting it, carrying expensive purses probably doesn't qualify as being a stumbling-block for your sister in Christ. Unless the first sister is prideful or the other sister is jealous.
Am I making sense?
Even the well-put-together gals have rough days and have drama they are covering up. They are just as broken and in need of Jesus as the Goodwill shoppers. It doesn't mean that automatically the clothes that they or their husbands worked hard to pay for need to be passed over in the closet when they are having a bad day. We don'thave to wear stained and hole-y sweats just because we feel like crap.
Those ladies - you may need one of them to be a friend, a divine appointment, a mentor, etc. They need you too! Don't add any unecessary bricks to the wall between you and them.
Again, I see where you're coming from. I know I've talked with you in a negative way about "them" before, and I'm sorry. (Forgive me for being judgemental, Lord!) As a friend, though, I want to challenge you to move past it. Look beyond it...just like you want people to look beyond and see the real you...
i am not mad at the women in the designer jeans.
i am mad that we (myself included here) allow the accumulation of stuff in our lives to get in the way of serving.
the problem isn't designer jeans.
i like a good pair of jeans.
it goes deeper than that.
i was thinking about how many women in the church (myself included) go to such great lengths to present themselves as if they have it all together (with the clothes, the marriage, their stuff)...it's exhausting...
the problem is bigger than your church.
I've read this a couple of times. Primarily because I can't figure out which side of the fence (is there a fence on this?) that I sit on. Am I the woman with expensive perfume and designer jeans or am I the woman thinking she doesn't quite fit in? Or...am I both?
I hate clutter or accumulation at one level. I clear things out of my life with regularity and have taught my children to do the same. We have a guideline in our home that "People are more important than things." and we try to live that out at every opportunity.
I don't want anything to get in the way of my worship, but I do enjoy shopping, finding that perfect "fit", and expressing myself in clothing. Except when I don't...which happens about 50% of the time.
I never considered it might be an issue for others. As in, they would consider me self-absorbed, or may compare themselves to me (which would be a big mistake...imo).
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