Wardrobe (Easter - Day 28)

(Based on Colossians 3:12-17)

I was talking to a recently homeless friend a couple of weeks ago, and he told me he had walked through Baybrook Mall. He was astounded at how many clothing outlets there were. He couldn't believe the amount of choices. Coming from a man who had spent the last five years without the luxury of choice when it came to clothing and brand name, I understood how he would be astonished at this sort of thing. 

Most of the time, we can look at what a person's wearing, and form an opinion of that person. If a person's wearing a suit, they have money. If the person's wearing a shirt with holes in it, she doesn't have much money. If a person's wearing Tom's, he's kind of a hippie and possibly a Liberal. If a person's wearing a shirt with an American flag on it, she's probably a Republican. If a person's wearing a shirt that says "Real Men Love Jesus," they're probably gonna try to convert me. 

Personally, I've always leaned more toward the cheap, "he doesn't have much money," style of clothing. I recycle my clothes for at least a week before going to wash. My socks somehow disappear, and I will use the same ones for days at a time. When I run out of clean underwear, I opt out and go commando for a couple weeks. I believe underwear are the most inefficient article of clothing man ever invented. Except for those few times that I wear the same pair two days in a row, or I'm backpacking in the Colorado wilderness, underwear just don't have much life in them between washes. Going without is very freeing. 

Paul talks about underwear. Actually, he talks about clothing. In the last passage, he talked about taking off old clothes. The old clothes were things like anger, intense sexual cravings, and meanness. Today, he's talking about putting on the clothes we were designed to wear. I guess we could call these God's designer clothes. Paul proposed earlier that labels don't mean anything anymore. Christian and non-Christian, Hindu, Buddhist, Republican, Democrat, religious, irreligious, slave, free, male, female, black, white, red, American, Mexican, etc. What matter now is what clothes we're wearing. He proposes that we have all been designed to wear the clothes of compassion, kindness, humility, quiet strength, discipline, even-temperement, contentment, and forgiveness. The clothes are already in our closets, and it's up to us to put them on or leave them to collect dust.

Paul claims that we've already been saved from the punishment from our wrongdoings over the years, that Christ rescued us when he took all of our bullcrap to the cross. The work left for us to do is to experience more and more freedom here on this earth. That doesn't sound like work, but more like a gift doesn't it? Yet, it's a struggle day in and day out to choose the shirt of compassion over the shirt of intolerance, the blue jeans of kindness over the blue jeans of meanness. 

We get to put on a wardrobe that was specifically designed for us to gain all the freedom we could ever want, but it requires doing the hard work keeping our clothes on. Compassion, kindness, humility, quiet strength, discipline, even-temperement, contentment, and forgiveness. Some of these seem to come naturally for me, and others seem out of reach, but Paul says that wearing all of them means that we are connecting to abundant life, this source of vitality and freedom that doesn't come when anger and discontentment are rattling our brains. 

Just to let you know, if you're the kind of person who actually has to practice being kind to others, you're not alone. For me to think of others before myself is work. It takes intention. It takes practice. It takes placing myself in second place. It's not easy at all. But, in the times that I actually do it, wonderful things happen that are usually not visible to the eye. Things like peace settle over my mind. Things like thankfulness fill my heart. Love feels more like it should be - like second nature. 

One of the practices I hold onto is something I've learned in my time of recovery from the self-centered manifestations of alcoholism. I'm going to share those here just in case someone may be looking for a way to "inventory" their wardrobe. Each morning, before I come inside to write, I ask myself the following questions about the day before:

• Was I resentful yesterday?
• Was I selfish yesterday?
• Was I dishonest yesterday? 
• Was I afraid yesterday?
• Do I owe an apology?
• Have I kept something to myself which should be discussed with another person at once?
• Was I kind and loving toward everyone?
• What could I have done better?
• Was I thinking of myself most of the time?
• Was I thinking of what I could do for others?
• Was I thinking of what I could contribute in each of my affairs?

After answering these, I thank God for his forgiveness, and ask what corrective measures I can take today. Usually, the things I struggled with jump out at me through the questions, and those are the things I will work on today. In this way, I am keeping track of "what clothes I'm wearing."

Anybody who says that being selfless or godly is easy is usually not telling the truth. These things are not simple fixes. They are embedded in our psyches, and it takes training to get rid of these clothes that we're still emotionally attached to. The real question from this point on is, "How much freedom do I want?" I'm spiritually hungry, and the only way to grow is to get rid of these things that are holding me back, keeping me from life. 

What Paul is not saying is that if we do these things, God will love us more. He's not saying that by doing these things, we will be forgiven. He's not saying that we'll earn a chair in heaven after we die. What he is saying is that there are practical ways to experience the true freedom of God. There are tangible ways we can connect to the intangible Spirit of the Universe. There are things we can do to connect with the things we can't see. 

Paul's Message is this: We have been saved from that dead-end life of chains. Jesus doesn't demand our chronic asking for forgiveness because he already did the forgiving once and for all. What Jesus wants for us is to embrace the endless amount of freedom that was unleashed at the cross and cemented in the resurrection. Religion and brand name denominations don't matter anymore. This kind of freedom threads through religion, politics, culture, ethnicity, gender, lifestyle choice, and vocation. It's a freedom available and ready for the taking for all who wish to begin the adventure of losing the old, worn out clothes. 

Who's ready to get naked?