Lingerdog's World

I have been doing a series of sermons, messages, whatever you want to call them, it's just what was put on my heart to write about, what I felt moved to write, this is the third in the series.


Have you ever been in a church, and maybe not dressed to a standard that seems to have been set in said church? Have you ever felt ostracized for the manner in which you dress in a church if you didn’t fit with some standard set before your time?
I know I have felt this way in the past, and have heard of others feeling this same way. It isn’t a good feeling when you feel you are treated as less of a person because you don’t wear a fancy suit, or dress pants, or because you just show up in a t-shirt and jeans.
As Christian people we should make sure that we aren’t doing things like this.
We don’t know from what background or circumstances a person has come from. They could be jobless, homeless, and broke monetarily or even broken internally.
We don’t know what trials and tribulations have gone on in a person’s life, and yet far too often, people will look down upon a person who came in with mud stained shoes, and maybe a frayed leg on their pants.
I always want to go to the Bible for guidance in how I behave in life, for it is the Infallible Word of God.
So What does the Bible have to say on this matter?
James 2:1 My brethren, have not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with respect of persons.
2:2 For if there come unto your assembly a man with a gold ring, in goodly apparel, and there come also a poor man in vile raiment;
2:3 And ye have respect to him that weareth the gay clothing, and say unto him, Sit thou here in a good place; and say to the poor, Stand thou there, or sit here under my footstool:
2:4 Are ye not then partial in yourselves, and are become judges of evil thoughts?
2:5 Hearken, my beloved brethren, Hath not God chosen the poor of this world rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which he hath promised to them that love him?
2:6 But ye have despised the poor. Do not rich men oppress you, and draw you before the judgment seats?
2:7 Do not they blaspheme that worthy name by which ye are called?
2:8 If ye fulfill the royal law according to the scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself, ye do well:
2:9 But if ye have respect to persons, ye commit sin, and are convinced of the law as transgressors.
What this says to me is this, that if a man of fine clothes comes into your church and also a man of little, dressed in little more than rags, and you sit the well dressed man in a good seat, while shuffling the other man into some corner out of sight of those in attendance, you have become judgmental about these things.
God chose the poor to as rich in faith and heirs to the kingdom of Heaven. But in doing this we have judged the poor much as the rich man judges us. In fulfilling the law of the scriptures we are to love our neighbor as ourselves, and that is good.
But in choosing to judge and show respect to one person over another, we have sinned.
There are many fine Christians out there that do not do this, and I would encourage all of us to act in this manner.
But to those who have felt this way, just know, that God loves you, he sees beyond the clothes on your back and the shoes on your feet, he sees all the way to who you are, the beauty he created inside each of us. The outside is just the packaging.
1 Samuel 16:7 But the Lord said unto Samuel, Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him: for the Lord seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart.
Matthew 4:19 And he saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.
4:20 And they straightway left their nets, and followed him.
4:21 And going on from thence, he saw other two brethren, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in a ship with Zebedee their father, mending their nets; and he called them.
4:22 And they immediately left the ship and their father, and followed him.
Did they run home and change clothes? Did they run to the barber for a quick trim and shave? Did they at least go wash the smell of fish off their hands right quick? No, it says, “They immediately left the ship…, and followed him.”