Words Are Your Wardrobe
“Trees are swayed by winds, men by words.” – Joan Aiken, The Last Slice of Rainbow and Other Stories
We sat across each other in the almost-empty coffee shop.
In quiet voices, we shared stories of our childhood. Not the happy parts like Sundays at the lake, or eating peach upside-down cake, or of freedom found on ten-speed bikes. No, we talked about the mean parts where angry hands hurt, and bitterness raged, and how ugly words cut straight through to bone and marrow.
The words … I think we most remember the words.
I don’t want you here … you ruin everything … you’ll never be good … you don’t belong …
Most of my life, I believed I was too strong to let those words seep in. Too sure of who I was to let them take root and grow all thick and thorny.
Yes, sticks and stones bruised my bones, but their words … their words couldn’t touch me.
It was a lie.
Layer upon layer, their words became my wardrobe.
Every day I dressed myself with their unkind “clothes” and thought they fit me to a tee. And over the years, I’ve added my own hate-filled pieces out of habit, or carelessness, or both.
Then I met a Savior named Jesus.
HIS Word says astounding things like how I’m accepted though I make mistakes, and how I’m unblemished in his sight, and oh so dearly loved.
It took a long time before I noticed how shabby my wardrobe really was. Of how ill-fitting it looked in light of the One who calls me righteous and holy and beautiful.
Unsaid and unremembered. This is the terrible curse of words. Once spoken, they can never be unsaid or unremembered. They’re never completely erased, lost, or forgotten.
They endure, but their power doesn’t have to.
And so, in my inner closet hangs unkind clothes that say I’m rubbish, disgraceful, and worthless. But they rest next to white robes that say I’m redeemed, chosen, and royalty.
It would seem like an easy choice to pick white robes over stained blouses, but some days it isn’t.
Maybe we’re tired and short on hope, and feel every bit like our old clothes. It’s then, when we’re most wicked towards ourself, that we must decided to wear white regardless of the season.
Oh, and the best part? God makes us into what he calls us. We don’t have to pass a test or in some way earn his names. All we have to do is trust who he says he is, and who he says we are.
What does your wardrobe look like? Have you made room in your inner closet for the white-robed words of Jesus? Do you know what he calls you? Here are a few to ponder my friend …
Beautiful
“My beloved spoke and said to me, “Arise, my darling, my beautiful one, come with me.” – Song of Songs 2:10
His Workmanship
“For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” – Ephesians 2:10
Chosen
“We know, brothers and sisters loved by God, that he has chosen you …” – 1 Thessalonians 1:4
Holy
“For he chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world that we may be holy and unblemished in his sight.” – Ephesians 1:4
A New Creation
“So then, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; what is old has passed away–look, what is new has come!” – 2 Corinthians 5:17
An Heir
“So you are no longer a slave but a son, and if you are a son, then you are also an heir through God.” –Galatians 4:7
God’s Own
“Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine.” – Isaiah 43:1
Accepted
“Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God.” – Romans 15:7
Blessed
“Blessed is the one you choose and bring near, to dwell in your courts!” – Psalm 65:4
Dearly Loved
“Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.” – Colossians 3:12