Make a Fashion Statement



Alright. I’ll admit it. I love to shop. I love fashion. I don’t have a budget that allows designer labels, but (on a good day) I can at least try to pull off the style. I know what looks good on me and I know what to avoid – things that shows off all my worst features. Sometimes, though, I get into that dressing room and realize that even an empire waist won’t cover those extra pounds of winter weight – compounded by a few too many winters. I wish I could just find something that covered all the undesirable parts and displayed a flawless me.
I have an irrational fear of being  caught underdressed. The very idea of walking into a new church, restaurant or office and realizing that I’m the only one in jeans and a t-shirt makes me want to disappear into the floorboards. Almost as terrifying is the idea of spilling something all over myself when I can’t change and looking sloppy for the rest of the day.    
The prophet Zechariah tells the story of a similar nightmare in one of his visions. He saw the high priest Joshua standing before the angel of the Lord in filthy rags. Satan stood beside him to accuse him of his symbolic fashion faux pas, pointing a finger at his disgrace.
Zech.3:4-5 reads: The angel said to those who were standing before him, “Take off his filthy clothes.” Then he said to Joshua, “See, I have taken away your sin, and I will put fine garments on you.” Then I said, “Put a clean turban on his head.” So they put a clean turban on his head and clothed him, while the angel of the LORD stood by.
Isaiah reinforces these themes, referring to our attempts at righteousness as filthy rags (Isa. 64:6). Isa. 61:10 says I delight greatly in the LORD; my soul rejoices in my God. For he has clothed me with garments of salvation and arrayed me in a robe of righteousness.
When I go to meet my King that’s what I want to be wearing! But what exactly do garments of salvation and a robe of righteousness look like?
Rom. 13:14 puts it this way. “Clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the flesh.” In Ephesians 4:24 Paul states, "Put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.” This theme recurs in Colossians 3:10, "And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him:"
So if I wear a robe of righteousness before the throne of the almighty King, I will look just like his Son! What a fashion statement!
Do you keep God locked away deep inside or are you willing to wear the robe of righteousness, the image of Jesus Christ for all to see?