Dress for success, I guess

Seemingly, one of the requisite combinations of clothing in a coach’s or athletic trainer’s wardrobe is the khaki/tennis shoe blend.  I attended a professional conference on concussion recognition and management, which means I was in the company of many former-athletes-turned-coach, and this is what I observed:

It also comes in the spring/summer edition:

Obviously, it’s certainly not gender specific:

Even one of the speakers considered it appropriate to don the threads:

Naturally, there’s always the non-conformist…

Funny how we can sometimes identify what someone does by what they wear. 

So here’s just a little different spin on Paul’s comment that we are to:

“…clothe yourself with the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ…”

There are many thoughts about what that is, and just as importantly what it is NOT.  Debates rage and divisions arise over clothing, hairstyles, music (ugh, always about music…), over finer points of “doctrine” that have really nothing to do with the lordship of, you know,…the One we call our Lord,  and His mission of redemptive grace. When this sorry thing happens, we’re playing in the mud in our “Sunday best” prior to church, and you know how much your mom likes that one.

In this verse, it’s the word “presence” that stands out to me.  Look what they said about Peter, after his return and reinstatement with Jesus:

“The members of the council were amazed when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, for they could see that they were ordinary men with no special training in the Scriptures. They also recognized them as men who had been with Jesus.”

Sure, the council knew who these men were.  But there was something else.  Peter and his friends weren’t dressed in the usual clothing that would identify them as experts in religion.  They were clothed in something far more palpable: the presence of the Risen Christ, with the resultant behavioral changes that made their external features of no consequence. 

Here is my prayer:

Lord Jesus, teach us to be present with You, so that Your presence is evident through us wherever we are. 

(Can I get an amen?)

 

Romans 13:14; Acts 4:13  Holy Bible. New Living Translation copyright© 1996, 2004, 2007, 2013 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.