christian threads

Like many companies, our’s has a company shirt that it gives out to employees. It’s a simple blue polo shirt with the Blue Haven logo embroidered on the left side. I was flattered when they handed me a medium-sized shirt during my new employee welcoming party. Flattery quickly gave way to reality and I swapped it out for a large.

Since one of my determining factors for picking clothes to wear involves choosing the least-wrinkled option, I chose to wear my new shirt to work last week. And so did three of my co-workers and the president of our parent company. We joked about posing for a group picture -- and at least one of the ladies considered leaving early.

As a man, I was thinking ... "If I’m careful and hang this up when I get home, I might get another day of wear out of it."

Companies give out shirts to build camaraderie and team spirit. It’s fairly inexpensive and it helps foster a good feeling among employees.

As Christ-followers, we’ve been issued a set of clothing as well. In fact, it was more like an exchange -- we gave up our old wardrobe in exchange for a new one filled with God’s idea of fashion. Obviously, I’m not talking threads but values and principles and priorities.

The Bible describes the redemptive process in this way: "You are all sons and daughters through faith in Christ Jesus, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ" (Galatians 3:26-27).

It should be no surprise that when Christians gather for worship or meet over coffee, that they show up wearing the same "clothes." If you’ll pardon my pun in advance, the one common thread we all share is Jesus. As the old hymns says, "Blest be the tie that binds our hearts in Christian love."

So the next time you bump into a fellow Christ-follower, greet her by saying, "I just love what you’re wearing." You and I will know what you mean :-)