Sunday best? Hmmm....

If you spend more time thinking and talking about what to wear to church (or what another person wore to church) than what the service is actually about, maybe it's time you re-evaluate why you go to church.

I'm not saying there is anything wrong with getting dressed up for church- but make sure you actually understand why you do it. God wants a clean, washed heart. Let's focus on that before criticizing those who don't dress their best. How do you think someone who is finally open to the gospel for the first time in his/her life is going to feel walking in a building full of dressed up church goers and they come in ripped jeans? Jesus said that it is very hard for a rich man to enter into heaven- and the very first impression given would be
1) I'm not rich enough to come to this church
2) I need to buy new things to come to this church
3) Jesus only wants a relationship with people in good clothes.

You are also giving a reason for everyone else in the church (who come to the understanding that dressing up is the only way) to judge those who don't come in their "Sunday best". And that my friends, is a sin. Paul discussing in 2 Corinthians the importance of not causing another brother to sin in what are considering "gray" areas. I was once told that for that very reason alone, people should dress up so that they don't cause the other people to sin. It's not those who don't dress up that cause the others to sin, its those who enforce "Sunday best" as a rule that cause others to sin.

That being said, I understand the importance of getting dressed up for church- you want to symbolize worship as giving your best to Jesus. I get that. I'm ok with that. In fact, I personally (usually) wear nicer clothes to church. Just don't force that on anyone else- especially considering the idea of wearing suits and skirts to church is not anywhere in the Word. In fact, Jesus called the well-dressed Pharisees "cups that are clean on the outside, but dirty on the inside" and "whitewashed tombs filled with dead-mans bones".

Because in the end, you can wear that beautiful flowing dress or that straight suit to church- but if your heart is hard, all the effort made was fruitless. So let's stop judging people for what is worn. Make a decision in your own heart that you are comfortable with. If you decide that you think God wants you to wear your best clothes, far be it from me to judge you. But it goes both ways. Let's not judge one another on matters that are not pertinent to salvation. I cringe hearing "Can you BELIEVE she wore that?!!" when other issues such as drunkenness, lust and pornography are alive in a church... not to mention the very problem at hand: gossip.

We give Satan easy access when the "yeast is alive and spreading" in the church and yet focus our attention on small, traditional, religious matters. Watch out for his attack.

In the end, I thank God for his undividing love for all people, whether you dress up to go to church or are in your ripped, dirty clothes, 3 days worn, worshipping in your basement. Praise Him for His desire for a pure heart. Because only He can clean that, and so every single bit of glory that only He deserves goes to Him.