Wearing your Sunday's Best...

Thinking about what is our "Sunday's best" at 5 in the morning! If you know me well, this is not a time I am normally coherent for. So with me being awake, what better time to blog what I am thinking than at 5 in the morning.

"Wear your Sunday's best," I grew up hearing this and living it out. I would get up Sunday mornings; put on a nice pair of slacks, a collared shirt, colored socks, and my dress shoes. Many times, I would end up forgetting the belt...Fast forward to today. A youth pastor of a small Baptist church, a church that I showed up to my first interview in jeans, a Crucified t-shirt, and hoodie. My plan was to present myself in the way of who I was and not to put on an act of what I was not. I was hired and moved all that I had to begin working in the church and the community. It wasn't long and I tried to adapt to the culture of the church. I went from owning one suit to owning three suits, four button down shirts to a dozen, and from a handful of ties to about fifty ties. I was frustrated inside because I promised myself I wouldn't change!

Now I should note that I don't mind wearing shirts, ties, and suits from time to time. I did it in college for the fun of it. The real heart of the issue was why was I dressing this way. For one, I got tired of hearing negative comments on how I dressed and it was so much easier for me to hear the positive ones when I was decked out in a suit. Granted, there was even a time where that wasn't even good enough. I received a comment through my now wife; that she was confronted on the fact that my shirt(s) were wrinkled. ARE YOU KIDDING ME! I ironed my clothes most of those mornings, and they started off looking great in the morning. The question in my head really bothered me: "Am I wearing my Sunday's best for God or for the sakes of men?" I started wearing a variety of things over the last year and half. Sometimes, I wear a suit and other times just a pair of jeans with a sweater.

Over the last decade, I have past this thought on to many people. We live in a generation gap. The older generation normally was dressed down during the week working in factories, steel plants, farms, etc. and on Sundays they wore their Sunday's best to church. My generation and younger tend to dress up during the week for work, anywhere from a business worker to a waiter at Olive Garden; and then tend to dress down on Sundays. This gap has cause much strife within the church!

I believe today that many churches get it, when they say dress as you are and we will accept you as you are. Sadly, there are many churches and church people that have not come to this point. I could talk a lot on this topic; but I believe for today, I just want to hit one thought that I have been dwelling on for the last hour.

What is the importance of wearing your Sunday's best? The main response I get back is that it is out of respect for God.

Think about this with me: As Christians, we are to wear our Sunday's Best out of respect for God when we go to His House, the church, to meet Him. Why don't we as Christians wear our Sunday's Best on Monday morning when we get up, grab His Word and meet Him?

If we truly are wearing our Sunday's Best for God (and not for others), then why do we only do it Sunday morning? This sounds like, we as Christians are living a double life! We dress up for God when others are around, but not when it is just Him and us. In fact, I have also heard, that it is okay to dress down at church; but just on Sunday nights or Wednesday nights. Isn't that yet another double standard? 

Can we agree that the church is just a building during the week, but on Sundays (and other times of the week) when people are there that this is the true church? Then when we gather with other Christians outside the church building; shouldn't we wear our Sunday's best so that we do not live a double standard life? 

To me having a dress code in church; sounds a lot like the Pharisees of the Bible. We make up a list of rules that are nowhere found in the Bible, and then tell Christians that they are not respecting God based on what they are wearing. Do I think it is a wrong to wear jeans to church? No, but I guarantee you I do see it wrong when someone judges another person for it! Only a righteous and just God can judge a person's heart...

I do, however, think it is wrong to wear jeans just to cause trouble and be rebellious, just as much as I think wearing a suit and looking down at others is wrong. Reminds me a lot of the Pharisee and the Sinner who are praying in Matthew 18. The Pharisee says God look at me, I did my checklist of things; while the Sinner stands there and cries for mercy. The heart is the difference in Matthew 18! Just like the heart of the person matters to God, not on what he or she decides to wear on a Sunday Morning!