When many of us were growing up there was a set of clothes, two if you were lucky, that were set aside as your “Sunday-go-to-meeting” clothes. They were special, set apart, in other words…you didn’t horse around in those things. I can’t remember how many times I got grass stains on the knees of my Sunday-go-to-meeting pants but I know it was more than a few. The fact of the matter is that it was a state of mind…there were some things that were set aside for church. The clothes. A special bible. Even Sunday morning itself was set aside as Sunday-go-to-meeting time. You just didn’t mess with that day and you didn’t mess with the clothes. The last thing I wanted to have happen was to have my momma find those clothes with dirt and grass stains ground into the very fibers of those britches.
Needless to say our society, culture, and attitude has changed over the past few decades. Good, bad, or otherwise, no matter how you look at it, there is a new normal.
Isaiah 61:10 reads this way “I will greatly rejoice in the Lord; my soul shall exult in my God, for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation; he has covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decks himself like a priest with a beautiful headdress, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.”
Our salvation changes us. It creates in us a new heart. By it the Lord dresses us in His righteousness. How much more precious, priceless, and costly is my salvation than any pair of pants that I ever wore to church.
Perhaps we have allowed those things that were set apart for the Lord to be pushed aside at times. Perhaps we have horsed around a bit too much while dressed in our Sunday-go-to-meeting salvation best. Perhaps we have allowed the dirt of this world to be ground deep into to the very fibers of our christian lives so that we no longer look like so much like that precious garment of salvation.
I certainly didn’t want my momma to find my Sunday-go-to-meeting clothes stained. But one thing I fear more than that…and that is to have my Lord find me with stains of this world all over those precious, righteous garments of my salvation that he paid such a high price for. My salvation, our salvation, the Gospel of Jesus Christ, isn’t just for Sunday; we wear those righteous garments every day of our lives. Perhaps it is time to put on that Sunday-go-to-meeting state of mind once again and remember the precious price that was paid for you to be dressed in garments of His righteousness.
1 Thessalonians 5:11 "Therefore encourage one another and build up one another..." 