Change Clothes!

“Then Jacob said unto his household,

and to all that were with him,

Put away the strange gods that are among you,

and be clean, and change your garments.”

Genesis 35: 2

Paul always dressed very nicely, but he was on his way to the gym and he couldn’t work out in his suit, he had to change clothes. Terri had an interview in a few hours, but was still running errands in her jeans and sneakers; she was worried that she wouldn’t have time to change clothes. Marcus showed up to the spring dance in a jean jacket and some slacks, all of his comrades had suits on, he wanted to change clothes. Theresa thought Trina looked a hot mess, with her tight mini-skirt and fish net stockings on at the elementary school play, she really thought she should change clothes.

Whether we are dressed in fine linens or our everyday outerwear, we have all had one reason or another to change outfits a time or two. Why? Well we want to be dressed for the occasion, nobody wants to show up to the gym in a three piece suit, just as nobody wants to arrive at a job interview with swimwear on—it just wouldn’t work!

So how does this relate to today’s text? Well Jacob had just received some instructions from God to build an altar unto Him. Now the altar represents a place of worship, a place where we spend time with God one on one; Jacob realized that he had to come to God right. That’s why he told his people to put away strange gods, meaning anything that takes the place of God in our lives, whether that be a relationship, a child, a job, a hobby, or a sport; Jacob understood that God must come first. He also instructed his house to be clean, that means pure in heart, when we come to God we must be sincere in heart, we don’t have to be perfect but our intentions must be perfect. How so? Well we can’t really converse with God until we’ve repented to God, that’s how we go to God in worship clean. Lastly Jacob told his house to change their garments because Jacob knew that he must be properly dressed when approaching the throne. That doesn’t mean that we can’t talk to God in our pajamas but that does mean that we should be dressed with the whole armor of God. That means having righteousness on our breastplate, our feet covered with the preparation of the gospel, and having the helmet of salvation—that’s proper dress code!

Just as we cannot go to the gym in four inch stilettos, we cannot go to God without making Him our first choice, being pure in heart, and honoring His word in our daily walk. When we do this we have essentially changed clothes, because we are no longer the way we used to be and now our priority has shifted to pleasing Him and not ourselves. Pleasing God doesn’t mean we’ll always make the right choices, but it means we’ll have a heart to do what is right, even if we fall short of that.

As we approach the new year and we’re looking to make changes personally, professionally, physically, and spiritually, let’s make a decision to worship God with our whole heart this year and change clothes!