IT DOESN’T FIT. If I’ve heard it once I have a thousand times.
My wife says she’s built funny-at least from the waist down. Actually it’s not her build; it’s her legs. They’re vertically challenged, making it difficult for her to find pants the correct length. Most pants she models could host her legs twice.
As a good husband, I tell her she’s built just right. She likes my opinion, but it doesn’t cut down on her time in the dressing room or mine on the bench. So I sit and wait until she finds just the right pair of pants or until she gives up in disgust and we go home.
I don’t have as much trouble finding properly fitting clothes, but occasionally my normal size doesn’t fit-usually because of the manufacturer or quality of cloth. And periodically I try on garments I know deep down inside won’t fit (when I’m dieting and hope I’ve decreased a size). Normally I’m disappointed.
But properly fitting attire should be the least of my worries. More important is what I try to wear spiritually but shouldn’t. Paul says “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)
A modern translation says it more graphically: “Shed them like dirty clothes.” I’ve done that too. Peeled off sweat soaked clothes after picking watermelons or after five days of bathless backpacking.
As a follower of Christ, some things just don’t fit or wear properly because I’m a new creation in him. Paul lists a few: dishonesty, wild parties, drunkenness, sexual impurity, immoral living, fighting and jealousy. Every now and then I try parading around in a few of these garments and get disappointed. It’s only natural. They never fit like I imagine, and they shouldn’t.
The cure for inappropriate clothing is simple: put on the right size and style instead of attempting to wear something appealing that isn’t either. Like honesty, decency, right thinking and Jesus’ qualities of living.
Prayer: Father, may the clothes we wear accurately reflect we are Your children.
Martin Wiles mandmwiles@homesc.com
Harleyville, South Carolina, USA
www.morningliteministry.com