Are You Ready?
I am not trying to put everyone into the same mold as me, but I think God expects our best.
How many of you just said, “yeah, of course He does”?
Well, I don’t think we are giving it.
I know that we are all in a fallen world, and we are sinners, and, and, and… How we can strive to be better through all that is definitely material for plenty of other posts, but what about one “simple” specific example:
What about on Sunday in church?
That is our one time to shine and put our best foot forward. We can take one day out of the week to really give it our all in all the little ways that make a difference.
Instead we look for somewhere to “be ourselves”. Where we don’t have to behave according to others’ opinions. We try to find a church that will accept us for whatever we are the other six days of the week.
And the church is trying so hard to get people to come to service and “be comfortable” in worship that they have begun to accept a little more, and a little more.
I absolutely agree that we should accept people for what they are, but we should not keep it a secret that God is in charge and we are presenting ourselves to Him and He has higher standards. Higher standards than blue jeans and flip-flops.
We could take this down a dozen other trails from here, but I don’t think it’s too much to ask to start with this. We are presenting ourselves to God, to worship Him. We aren’t going down the street to meet our buddies.
A personal relationship with Christ doesn’t mean he’s your drinking buddy.
He’s still God.
Maybe you don’t have a suit or even a tie. But I do really think that we owe God at least as much respect as we show to…
- A potential boss when we go for a job interview.
- Or that “special someone” of the opposite gender who we want to impress at a nice dinner.
- Even a judge who is going to condem us for parking too close to a fire hydrant.
If we are going to be putting our best foot forward at any time, for anyone, shouldn’t God be on that list?
Shouldn’t God be at the top of that list?
And don’t forget to wash behind your ears.
Jim and I struggle with this also. The church we attended in the spring was too casual for us. I could wear khakis and a blouse and be overdressed. Jim wore a suit on Easter, the girls and I wore new skirts and dresses, and the pastor was wearing jeans and a short sleeved patterned button-up shirt. The pastor said, “Hey, you’re making me look bad.” God accepts us as we are, but when we step into a holy place where we expect God to be, I believe we should be dressed our best and our attitudes should match. No yelling at the kids to hurry up, honking at the wife who is grabbing last minute things. We should be getting up early, getting ready early and arriving to church in excited, happy, anticipation of meeting with our God. He is so worthy of our adoration, respect and worship. Our dress shows others what we think of Him. Thanks for your post. I’m glad I’m not the only one trying to reconnect with the honorable past of dressing up in our Sunday best.
Amein! I totally agree with you. The Lord must be approached with a sense of reverence, whether it involves a suit and tie or even just a deep breath and a little humility.