Why We Dress Our Best for Church
When you’ve been invited to someone’s wedding, do you roll out of bed that morning, throw on your favorite jeans and baseball tee and head to the ceremony because you should feel comfortable when you go and they know how you are?
No. You try to determine what would be most appropriate to the ceremony the bride has planned and dress accordingly, out of respect for the service and the two people getting married.
When you have to go to a funeral service, do you just do farm chores all day and then hop in the truck at the last minute and roll up in there in mucky boots and a sweaty shirt and say, “well, at least I’m here, right?”
No. You stop early, wash up, and change into neat and clean clothes out of respect for the deceased and the family.
Graduations, baptisms, birthday parties, dinner dates, business meetings…we take the time to think about our clothes, dress nicely and appropriately to the occasion, respectfully of who invited us, and in a manner that puts our best foot forward. So how can we do less when we go to God’s house?
I have to admit, straight away before you see all these adorable pictures of my little men in their suits, that I am a casual person. I’m a jeans and tees and ball cap kinda girl. I think a good pair of dark-wash jeans is about as dressed up as I need to be for just about any occasion. My parents were very causal too, and money was tight for us growing up. Our “best” is not what my household’s “best” is today. My Dad did wear jeans to a baptism–but they were his best black jeans, with a dress shirt and a tie and his nicest leather jacket. So when I say we “dress our best” I don’t mean that our boys wear a suit and tie every Sunday. They don’t. Sometimes they just wear khakis and a button-up shirt. (I actually avoided buying them suits until recently because they grow so fast I thought it was a waste. Mr. Fix-It changed my mind.)
But what they don’t wear is what they wear for farm chores. What they don’t wear is what they wear every day for school. They wear whatever their best dress clothes are at the time. And we make sure that our clothing budget includes dress clothes for Sunday.
Why?
Because Church is not about how little you can give that God will accept. It’s about how much can you give back to the One who gave you EVERYTHING.
How can I offer God less, in His own house, for just two hours a week, than I give my office every. single. day. 40 hours a week?
How can I offer God less than I give a 5 month old infant who won’t even know I’m there?
How can I offer God less than I offer a high school student who is thinking more about his/her new dorm room than me sitting in the stands?
How can I offer God less than I share with my husband for taking me out to eat on our anniversary?
Here’s an argument I’ve heard often at churches that promote and encourage casual dress (not just accept it, but promote and encourage it)…God loves us no matter what we wear.
My question to that is, what does that have to do with it? That’s about God’s behavior toward us. How we dress for church is about OUR behavior toward GOD. God does, absolutely love us no matter what we wear. Wearing a suit and tie doesn’t cover up the filthy rags of our sin. He sees straight through our clothes to our heart. If anything, the fact that He loves us no matter what should be encouraging us to do MORE for Him, not less.
Here’s another one I’ve heard and seen a lot as I’ve read up on this topic…I can love and worship God no matter what I’m wearing. It’s about my heart.
Yes, too true! I think this is very important because I don’t think anyone should judge what your “best” is. This post isn’t titled “Why We Wear Suits to Church.” It’s not about what clothes you wear, it’s about giving your best to the Lord, on the Lord’s day, in the Lord’s house.
And I would ask what’s really in your heart on Sunday mornings when you get dress for church? Is your heart saying, “How can I show God my utmost respect and love and worship today? How can I show Him my humble spirit in His house? How can I give Him my very best in return for all He has given me? How can I show Him the utmost gratitude for all the blessings He has showered down on me?”
Or is your heart saying “Here’s my favorite clothes that I’m most comfortable in, because I don’t think it should matter?” Is your heart saying, “It’s church, everyone should just take me as I am.” In all honesty, deep down in the quiet places…is your heart rebelling against any standard that may be imposed on you from outside? Even if it’s God’s? (Ahem…all you strong-willed women out there, you don’t have to raise your hand. I know. Believe me, I know.)
Here’s another variation on that one…Clothes don’t matter, I’m here to worship God.
This goes hand in hand with rebelling against outside standards. The fact is, the Bible doesn’t tell us to wear suits (or khakis, or skirts, or jeans for that matter) to church. But it does tell us that clothing has always mattered to God when it came to HIS house, HIS temple, and being in HIS presence. There’s example after example in HIS word where He imposed detailed expectations for worship on folks. We don’t live under the law, but the Old Testament is still relevant in knowing God’s heart and mind for His people. The Bible is also full of examples of how believers modified their clothing in humble awe of the Lord. Covering heads, removing shoes, washing…prompted solely by reverence in their own heart and spirit. Are you dressing from a reverent spirit when you head to the Lord’s house on Sundays? Are you presenting yourself wholly to Him, heart, soul, AND body? Or are you saying “You can have my heart and soul, but what I do with my body is up to me, don’t worry about it. Lord, you just worry about my voice and my thoughts, that’s what should matter to You.”
I’m a busy momma. I work full-time. I farm. I’m a wife and mother to 3 kiddos…all within 5 years of each other. I had 2 under 2–trust me, I know those mornings when you roll out of bed and getting to church in your pjs really would be your best. It’s a miracle you got there at all! This has been a real journey for me.
And I’m pretty strong-willed (I love that new term “strong-hearted-woman”…much nicer ring to it than “stubborn!”) so the idea of take-me-as-I-am is pretty familiar to me. I’ve worn jeans to church. I’ve sent my son to church wearing Carhartt overalls. (In my defense, we had a farm thing right after church that day!)
I had to come to the place were I admitted that I gave my Monday through Friday paycheck job more wardrobe consideration than my Sunday mornings in the Lord’s house. He wasn’t getting the best that was in my closet, and digging a little deeper, that meant He wasn’t getting the best of the rest of me either. I would spend more time worry about outfits for the kiddos for the occasional birthday party than for visiting the Lord’s house. I even uncovered a little bit of embarrassing ugliness there–it was expensive and inconvenient to keep up with nice Sunday clothes for the children. Budgeting, shopping, washing, ironing, folding and hanging…giving our best to the Lord each week was inconvenient. {blushing with shame here} Thank goodness for Mr. Fix-It helping me out with this heart issue. (He might not have been as gracious as my strong-willed-self thought he should be, but he was honest.)
I do believe that it’s better to be there than not, no matter what you’re wearing.
No question. If your choice is come straight from work in dusty jeans and boots or not come at all, then ya know what? Dusty jeans and boots are your best that day. But is that really the choice we’re making? Wear this or I can’t go? Or is our choice it’s this or I won’t go? How much does it really put you out to have one or two nice “Sunday” dresses in your closet just for the Lord–after everything He’s given to you? Is it really that you can’t? Even Laura Ingalls Wilder managed, in her only-4-dresses wardrobe, to have a special Sunday dress.
These are questions I had to ask myself. And the answers ended up pretty simple for us. We dress our best because the Lord deserves it. The minor inconvenience of cost and time are a small sacrifice to show respect to the One who sacrifice His own innocent Son for me.
And how adorable do my little men look, anyway? {smile}
See where I’m sharing…
Excellent post! It is true that God deserves our best, even if He DOES (and especially BECAUSE He does!) Love us at our worst!
And, as you so aptly explained, these standards we apply to ourselves – not to the guy next to us in Church. I do remember one day (I’m embarrassed to say) when I looked at the guy I knew sitting near me, He strolled into Church quite late, and was wearing a dirty, torn undershirt, and sloppy, torn sweat pants, and I thought some unkind thoughts. I knew he wasn’t so impoverished that he HAD to wear that outfit that wasn’t even nice enough to farm in! Only to find out after the service that his house had burnt down at 3AM that day, and he literally WAS wearing his best! As the Scriptures say, People look at the outside of a person, but God looks at the heart. We can apply these standards to ourselves, but never to “the other guy.”
Thank you for sharing your heart! It’s not our place to judge, but I wanted to share MY heart because I think a lot of us don’t take the time to really search our hearts about it. We hear something we like that makes life easier for us–like “God doesn’t care what you wear”–and we just go with it. We don’t run it all the way through the filter of scripture and the Holy Spirit.
I so agree with what you say. We have always tried to dress our best for special occasions and that includes church. Excellent post, I really enjoyed it, thank you. Blessings
Sometimes I think we start to take church for granted because we go every week. HE deserves our best. Every week.
I agree. it seems no one dresses their best anymore, even for weddings and funerals. We should put forth our BEST for HIM no matter what we do. Our best work as well as our best dress. Great post!
Thanks for reading! I think people get hung up on if they are judging or being judge, rather than being in the pew whole-heartedly for the Lord.
OK, first of all, let me say those must be the cutest little men in little suits that I’ve ever seen! And secondly, I really like the answers you’ve given here to a question that comes up a lot. You captured some nuances I’d never thought of, and gotten straight to the heart of the matter. (Also, I’d never heard the term “strong-hearted” women, and I really like it!) So nice to meet you on Thoughtful Thursdays.
Great post and CUTE pictures! Please come join the link up at somuchathome.blogspot.com! I host a party each Wednesday. The link up parties last a whole week, so you can link up at any time. Feel free to link up as many posts as you’d like.
Thanks for the invitation! Shared a couple posts this morning!
Great post! God really does deserve our best. It is about how we show our love and respect for Him. Thank you for your great insights!
This is great. My husband and I grew up in a church where everyone really dressed up, so this is just habit for us. We now attend a small country church, that as a child, I looked down upon because of the way some people dressed. Fast forward 20 years and I now attend that same church. I now know that some of the “lesser dressed” people are really wearing their best. On the other hand, it is one of the few churches that I know of where you will find any man or boy wearing a suit. They truly have adopted the heart attitude of wearing your best.
Our boys have owned suits since they were a year old. I quickly realized, that with a little bit of creative shopping (outlet stores, ebay, garage sales) you can find very gently used (because most people just dress up on Easter, Christmas and picture day)suits for cheaper than you can buy a pair of khakis and a polo.
I now have a teenager who is growing faster than I can get to the store, so we are taking a hiatus from the suits, but he still wears a button down shirt and tie.
I love how you approached the heart attitude in this. This is so important as your kids are growing and seeing other kids wearing what is popular, but not always their best for God.
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Thanks for addressing the heart issue behind it. It isn’t too much to give God 2 days and 2 hours of respect. (we have Sunday plus midweek) We’ve all had days when we run straight from work to Bible study ‘as is’ and it’s better to be there than to miss, but that shouldn’t be our usual. People have said I’m too conservative/legalistic for feeling there should be some modicum of standards for God’s House (like no flip flops and you can at least have a simple skirt or suit with a few blouses/shirts to change up with it); I had a uniform or plain black or tan skirt and top with pretty sweaters or overblouses to change them up, which improved when my weight and finances didn’t fluctuate so much. With thrift stores and Ebay it doesn’t have to be expensive.
My son has always worn suits, and with the exception of when he was at the shoe size between mens and boys and we couldn’t find anything, he always had dress/meeting shoes. (my mom got him a bunch of suits when he was little in various sizes at a going-out-of-business sale that were a Dollar each! Was sad when he outgrew the last of those) He now is old enough to work and likes buying nice dress shirts and ties to go with his suits.
I agree, if you put a little extra effort it, it doesn’t have to be overwhelming cost wise. We’ve also had a lot of luck getting good prices on dress shirts, ties, etc. from school uniform stores and private school family uniform exchanges. Besides, if we’re honest, everyone has nicer clothes that they use for weddings, graduations, funerals, etc. Usually, you HAVE the clothes, you’re just not using them for church. I find it a strange mindset that you would never wear shorts and flip flops to a wedding in a church, but you would to a Sunday morning church service in a church. Most people wouldn’t even wear that to a beachfront wedding, they would wear a nice dress or khakis. But they’ll wear it to church. But it’s definitely more about where your heart is when you walk in the door than what your clothes are!
Very good points. I’m currently battling with my teen about this issue just this morning and found your article in a Google search.
I’ve been reviewing it often since my Ladybug entered the teen years too. Sometimes it’s hard to get teens to look past their desire to fit in and really look at their motivations.
I am having issues with my church on it’s dress code(s). I am 70+ years old, and my father-mother always saw to it that we had clean PRESSED wardrobes to wear. Somehow my mother always seemed to pull it off; back then everything had to be ironed. It was also hard on my father because he was a blue collar worker making around seventy-five dollars a week with a family of five. Men’s casual dress I have, but don’t have a real BIG problem with, but some of the lady’s attire is totally disgraceful for church (or anywhere). I can, but want give but one example of a lady’s attire going to our church. Lady goes to alter to have a talk with God, but keeps her hand holding her short dress down in the back. My thought was how can any lady have a earnest talk with our savior and be thinking about her short dress. As a young man the school girls (young lady’s)wanted to be cute; now the young and older lady’s want to be >>SEXY<<. Give the devil his dues — he is doing his job well! Your pics remind me of my older brother and me ready for Sunday church.
Honestly, it takes a lot more work for ladies to dress modestly these days than it used to. Finding clothes that fit the way we want them to can really be a challenge! But yes, it’s important that our clothes are not distracting us from what we’re actually at church to do–which is worship and give our best to Lord. If our attention is on fussing with our clothes, then our heart is not in the right place, there in the pew, either. But I feel for ladies because it takes a lot more work to get a family out the door and into the pew dressed nice and neat and clean, with everything fitting and matching, (I can’t imagine also having everything pressed!!) than to just let everyone wear whatever they want.
Last Sunday it was hot so I wore a light Spring Dress and Coat. White sandles.
The preacher went to the frount of the Congragation (Very Large) and said.. Do not wear Dresses to Church it takes away from the people concentrating on God. This is the second time I have been told to wear torn up old worn Blue Jeans. I am thinking about changeing churches.
Sometimes we do have to search our heart and see if what we believe lines up with the BIBLE, and then evaluate our church from there.