The Best Dressed

The past few weeks, we have been studying the Sermon on the Mount in Bible Study.  The scriptures in Matthew 5-7 definitely have much to teach us about living a life that can make a difference for God’s Kingdom in our world.  When we read and discussed the “Golden Rule”, I was once again reminded of a situation that happened in college that was a living picture of that verse for me.

 

Back in my college days, girls wore either dresses or skirts for church.  On one particular Sunday morning, a girl came to church in jeans and a t-shirt.  Her father was a minister, in another town, so she had many looks that day with people knowing she knew the proper attire for church.  Fortunately, since there was a girl that came with her, also wearing jeans, I don’t think anyone made any comments to her that morning.  But the next night, at a campus visitation meeting at the church, several people gave her a hard time about her choice of “dress” on Sunday.  When the comments settled down, she stated that the girl she brought with her Sunday morning didn’t own a dress or skirt and she didn’t want her to feel out of place.

 

That example has caused me to pause and think on several occasions about my willingness to do the right thing even if others might not understand or I don’t have a chance to explain my choice.  Am I willing to be a little uncomfortable so that someone else isn’t?  I don’t know about you, but I think God thought my friend was the best dressed person at church that Sunday morning.

 

I Samuel 16:7

“…The Lord does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”

 

Matthew 7:12

So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.

 

John 13:35

“By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”