By Pastor Douglas Brauner

Standing Out in Our Community

How did you choose what to wear today? Some of us are more fashionable than others and take pride in what we wear. Those of us who are fashion challenged have another person choose for us. The decision was easy for some of us because we wear a uniform, and others of us stood for what seemed like an eternity choosing the perfect clothes for the day’s challenges.

“And all of you, dress yourselves in humility as you relate to one another, for ‘God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.’”
1 Peter 5:5 New Living Translation

How many of us chose to wear a slave’s apron or scarf?

The word that Peter uses for dressing was a unique word. This is the only place it appears in the Bible. It is related to the noun of a slave’s apron or scarf which distinguished a slave from free people. Clothing declared that a person was a slave.

Peter writes to a community that was suffering for their faith in Jesus. As they suffered, he encouraged them to pick the slave’s apron to wear. What is that apron? It is the apron of humility that would distinguish them in their community. It is the humility of Jesus who emptied himself of heaven and became the world’s slave by dying on the cross.

The white shirt distinguishes itself from the other shirts. It stands front and center among various shades of gray. In a world where pride and ego are front and center, the call God has placed on us in Jesus is to live with humility.

Make no mistake about it; humility is our calling.

By the mercy of God, we are bound to Jesus, he has clothed us with his white robe of forgiveness. Being bound to him, we are free from sin, death, and the devil. We are free to live as humble servants of Christ.

What will people see in us today? Will people see our humble clothing in Christ? As we walk through our day, may people see Jesus in us through our humble service in this world.

Copyright Family of Christ Lutheran Church, Colorado Springs, Colorado