“Put on the full armor of God.” Ephesians 6.11 NIV
“Dressing appropriate to the occasion is important for the success you desire.”
Mythoughts today advise, “dress for success.”
The first thing every morning is dressing for the day. Before I consider how to dress, I think through my day’s calendar, considering the places where I will need to be and the people with whom I will be. Meeting friends for a game of golf, or meeting with an executive officer of Broadway Bank, or ministry responsibilities at my office each dictate specific thought of dressing properly. A simple guideline would be: dress attractively, appropriately, and modestly.
Have you ever seen a person in a business suit and tie (or evening dress and high heels as the case may be) running a marathon, or a banker in running shorts and tank top handling your banking needs? I think you would be taken aback, and wonder to your self or aloud, “What were they thinking?”
There are many unavoidable assumptions – both right and wrong – that people draw by how you are dressed. You can decry that it ought not to be that way, but that does not change the reality. As you learn at your first job, dressing appropriate for the setting and occasion is critically important for the success you desire and the people upon which your success may depend. I observe that a growing insistence on elevating one’s own sense of personal preference and comfort above other considerations has spawned an undue casualness that has eroded a business necessity and social courtesy that can also harbor spiritual implications.
That practical principle is even more true in your daily Christian life. Dressing thoughtfully and appropriately for each day’s realities is critically important for success in the Christian life as well. A soldier on the dangerous streets of Iraq or on patrol in the mountains of Afghanistan is well advised to dress much differently than a soldier in peacetime at a stateside military base.
Here’s what the Bible teaches: an understanding of Spiritual warfare dictates that you get dressed for the day by first “putting on the full armor of God” every morning. This is not about being religious, or looking good; this is about survival. Doing so can mean the difference between your being a casualty or your survival and success in battle. See Ephesians 6:10-18 NIV.
Until the day that “we will be changed . . because this corruptible must be clothed with incorruptibility and this mortal is clothed with immortality,” you must dress for success and victory. 1 Corinthians 15:52-53. Success is yours, if you are dressed for it.
The Bible offers frequent advice about dressing for success: “Discard the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light. Let us walk with decency.” Romans 13:12. “Put on heart-felt compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience, forgiving one another. . just as the Lord has forgiven you. Above all, put on love, the perfect love of unity.” Colossians 3:12-14. Most importantly, you deliberately and prayerfully must “clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ . . ” first thing every morning. Romans 13:14. Imagine being safely wrapped up in Jesus all day.
My prayer for you today is that you be fully dressed, fully armed, and fully victorious.