Last week in this column I wrote about "spiritual food."
This week, as my wife and step-kids ready their wardrobes for school — I find myself thinking about "spiritual clothing."
I suppose a column about "spiritual shelter" cannot be far behind.
Clothes today, I'm told, are meant to "make a statement," to "send a message." If so, they still have a ways to go to catch the Bible, the ultimate "fashion catalog." From Salome's veils to the camel-hair shirt of John the Baptist, clothing in the Bible does more than cover people up. It exposes who they are.
The nakedness of Adam and Eve says a lot about them, for instance.
So do the coats of animal skins they wore after they were cast out of the Garden.
The long robes of the Pharisees were seen as badges of self-importance — even in biblical times.
Sack cloth and ashes sent a signal of submission.
As for a model of simplicity, I've always been struck by the fact Jesus came into the world "wrapped in swaddling clothes" and left the world "wrapped in clean linen cloth" — basically the same garment.
It's as if those preparing his body for death were preparing him for birth — for a fresh start in a new world as a new being.
During his ministry, the homespun robe he wore spoke volumes about what mattered to him.
Today we seldom imitate biblical dress. The messages and meanings would not be the same. Wearing sack cloth and ashes would only come across, I'm afraid, like the outfits worn by many teens.
Wearing biblical dress today would be just another fashion "performance."
And the last thing the world needs today is a new way to pose and posture.
On the other hand, as the world grows colder and coarse, as the checks against crudity and cruelty seem to vanish, one form of biblical dress is actually making a comeback. I'm seeing more and more Christians who try "put on the whole armour of God."
It's not that those who wear it are looking for a fight.
They're looking for protection.
And the nice thing about that armor is one size fits all, and it's free.
"Let us therefore cast off the works of darkness and let us put on the armour of light," Paul writes in Romans.
That is the biblical "outfit" I'm seeing around these days — "Christian," not "Christian Dior."
As for other forms of attire, if the Bible teaches us one thing, it is the pointlessness of thinking what we put on us has anything to do with who we are. Clothes may indeed reveal the man, but they never can make the man.
That is the role of God.
The most famous statement in history about haberdashery, in fact, may have been made by Jesus in The Sermon on the Mount.
"And why take ye thought for raiment?" he said. "Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these."
The message is clear. Decoration is up to God. It's not that religious souls should strive to look plain and drab. It's just that the glory of God is so much on us, there's nothing we can do to improve our looks.
Spiritually speaking, we all come into the world with more flair than the hottest runway model.
Wearing the best of Armani, Gucci or DKNY may make us radiate in the eyes of the world and feel like royalty. But in the eyes of God, we're already royal.
Dressing ourselves up in fancy duds is just "gilding the lily."
E-mail: jerjohn@desnews.com