For over 25 years our church has done the Living Christmas Tree--it's a big production, requiring not just the full (and extended) choir, but drama people and many 'extras', which I've often been one of.
One time, when everyone arrived for dress rehearsal, they wished they had been extras, too. Why? You should have seen our costumes! Wowza, they were beautiful! Never in my life had I been able to wear a Victorian style outfit, but I always admired them, especially the hats. Guess what? I got to wear not only the hat, but the gorgeous dress to go with it!
During the Victorian scene I strolled along a 'street' with a (self-proclaimed) dapper gentleman. (Sorry, Jeff—you
are dapper even though you have your shepherd's beard...er, rabbi beard. LoL) Wearing that outfit made me feel like a true lady--except for when it was hiked up to my knees and we were dashing to and from the dressing room. Strolling the aisles on Jeff's arm was quite an experience for me, and it's given me a better understanding of being clothed by God.
I will rejoice greatly in the Lord, my soul will exult in my God; for He has clothed me with garments of salvation, He has wrapped me with a robe of righteousness, ~Isaiah 61:10
It's made me remember that God has dressed me in His righteousness, so when He looks at me, He sees the robe of righteousness that He has wrapped me in, not my abundant, ugly sin. It's not that I've done anything to deserve that most precious robe, it's a gift from God Most High, and those without that robe are sent away from Him.
But when the king came in to look over the dinner guests, he saw a man there who was not dressed in wedding clothes, and he said to him, 'Friend, how did you come in here without wedding clothes?' And the man was speechless. Then the king said to the servants, 'Bind him hand and foot, and throw him into the outer darkness; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.' For many are called, but few are chosen.
~Matthew 22:11-14
If wearing a Victorian dress and hat makes me look similar to a Victorian lady, wearing God's robe of righteousness makes me not just look the part, but BE the part.
The wrong clothes got the wedding guest kicked out of the wedding feast, and the right clothes get me into eternity with Christ. But it's not clothes that we can purchase ourselves. They've already been purchased by Jesus when He died on the cross to pay the penalty of our sins. He died and conquered death by rising from the dead. So it's not dressing in style, or out of style, or any particular kind of clothing—it's only through God's grace that we are dressed in God's righteousness.
For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. ~Ephesians 2:8-9
How thankful I am that God has given me the robe of righteousness—there is no greater gift He could give me.
So tell me, are you clothed in the robe of righteousness?
Are you acting accordingly or playing in the mud in your good clothes?
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