A few weeks ago I got out a pretty dress, put on my heels, found a pretty pair of sparkly, dangling earrings, and dabbed on some lipstick. Keith and I went out to celebrate our anniversary. He trimmed his beard, wore a coat and tie, and polished up his dress shoes. Do you think either one of us for a moment thought that because we chose to dress up for each other on that evening that we didn’t love each other the other 364 days of the year? If we had, we would not have been celebrating number 40.
Our assemblies have gotten more casual in dress as the years have gone by. I understand that dress has nothing to do with the heart. Sometimes people clean up the outside when it’s the inside that matters. I would never judge a person as being less than devoted to the Lord because he wore jeans to the assembly, or because he waited on the Lord’s table without a tie on. I think most of us have gotten past such superficiality.
Recently, though, someone said in my hearing that we needed to realize that we serve God all the time, not just on Sundays and that dressing up on Sundays was a sign of being a “Sunday morning Christian.” I certainly agree with the first part of that statement, but I think the second half goes too far.
I still wear a dress to our Sunday morning assemblies because that is what I have done all my life. I see nothing wrong with dressing up—it’s one of the few chances I get. It does not mean I don’t love the Lord the rest of the week, any more than dressing up for an anniversary dinner means I don’t love my husband the rest of the year.
Why is it wrong to judge a person who does not dress up, but perfectly fine to judge a person who does?
That is just a small example of a big problem we all have—one way or the other we often do exactly the same things we criticize others for doing. We may be just as judgmental, just as tactless, just as inconsiderate as others. We have just wrapped ourselves in such an aura of self-righteousness that we cannot see it in ourselves. Our vision has been clouded by what we want to see, not what is really there.
I have developed another eye problem—a growth that is fogging up the vision I still have, and which will gradually worsen unless it is removed. Unfortunately, because of all the other conditions, the surgery to remove the growth is as dangerous to my vision as allowing the growth to continue on.
But there is no argument here: it is far more dangerous to our souls to allow that spiritual haze to grow unabated than to remove it. Self-righteousness breeds true, and becomes more and more difficult to see in ourselves as the years go on.
Judge not, that you be not judged. For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you. Why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when there is the log in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye, Matt 7:1-5.
Dene Ward
(For hints, help, and instructions on using this blog, click on the FAQ/Tutorial page on the left sidebar)
Our assemblies have gotten more casual in dress as the years have gone by. I understand that dress has nothing to do with the heart. Sometimes people clean up the outside when it’s the inside that matters. I would never judge a person as being less than devoted to the Lord because he wore jeans to the assembly, or because he waited on the Lord’s table without a tie on. I think most of us have gotten past such superficiality.
Recently, though, someone said in my hearing that we needed to realize that we serve God all the time, not just on Sundays and that dressing up on Sundays was a sign of being a “Sunday morning Christian.” I certainly agree with the first part of that statement, but I think the second half goes too far.
I still wear a dress to our Sunday morning assemblies because that is what I have done all my life. I see nothing wrong with dressing up—it’s one of the few chances I get. It does not mean I don’t love the Lord the rest of the week, any more than dressing up for an anniversary dinner means I don’t love my husband the rest of the year.
Why is it wrong to judge a person who does not dress up, but perfectly fine to judge a person who does?
That is just a small example of a big problem we all have—one way or the other we often do exactly the same things we criticize others for doing. We may be just as judgmental, just as tactless, just as inconsiderate as others. We have just wrapped ourselves in such an aura of self-righteousness that we cannot see it in ourselves. Our vision has been clouded by what we want to see, not what is really there.
I have developed another eye problem—a growth that is fogging up the vision I still have, and which will gradually worsen unless it is removed. Unfortunately, because of all the other conditions, the surgery to remove the growth is as dangerous to my vision as allowing the growth to continue on.
But there is no argument here: it is far more dangerous to our souls to allow that spiritual haze to grow unabated than to remove it. Self-righteousness breeds true, and becomes more and more difficult to see in ourselves as the years go on.
Judge not, that you be not judged. For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you. Why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when there is the log in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye, Matt 7:1-5.
Dene Ward
(For hints, help, and instructions on using this blog, click on the FAQ/Tutorial page on the left sidebar)
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