Clothed with the imperishable

For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. 1 Corinthians 15: 53 NIV

I am no fashionista. I have a limited wardrobe and have a heck of a time trying to figure out what I should wear on any given day. Warm or cold, casual or more dressy, I have a skirt for about every occasion. But the thought of having to pick something out and wear it for all eternity is more than this brain can take. I am 55 and at that age where I don't know what I should dress like anymore. Some things look like I am trying to hang on to my youth, and some things would make me look like a little old lady. The leg veins keep skirts modest...no one wants to see the webs at my knees! Will my eternal wardrobe be white, and will I be ok with that since the only white in my house is the sewing room to keep colors from distorting due to the surroundings. I wear a white shirt to work for dress code, but it is not my choice of color (or lack thereof, technically).

Where does one find an eternal, imperishable wardrobe, anyway? It doesn't say I SHOULD clothe myself with imperishable, but that I MUST. Where do I find cloth that will not disintegrate over time? What outfit will last forever and not get holes, stains, and wrinkles?

We will all die. And there is life after death. There is no doubt in my mind about that! And this is where the eternal clothing comes in. We will be stripped, so to speak. “Nothing in all creation is hidden from God's sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account.” Hebrews 4:13 There we will all be, buck naked, before God. Not a pretty site for most of us. But God is the one, who, after the accounting, will clothe us. He covers us with the blood of His Son, and with the white robes of glory. Revelation 19 speaks of the white robes being the righteousness acts of the saints, and Christ Himself is dressed in a blood-soaked robe, leading the saint in white in battle against the enemy of their souls. They are the bride of Christ, the church, that are given these immortal clothing by Christ Himself. He picks out the wardrobe in His favorite color, and since He will be adoring us for all eternity as His bride, it is only fitting (get it?) that we dress to please Him.

And if we are NOT covered by the robes, the wedding gowns, of Christ. We remain stripped. We are naked, ashamed, and unclothed before a Holy God. Every sin, every shame, every blemish, every bit of cellulite, scarring, and defect are there for Him to see. And that cannot remain in God's presence. It is a terrible thing to fall into the hands of the Living God, Hebrews 10 tells us. We are cast away from His presence forever.

So how do we get the robe? How do we become the Bride of Christ? Well, for starters, it's not by becoming a nun. In the earthly realm, the Catholic church tries to make people into something they are not by a choice they make. I choose to become a nun, a bride of Christ, by doing what the church says I must. I leave what I know and live in a convent, I do penance and make myself worthy somehow. That is not what scriptures say we must do. In Jewish history only a few women asked to be married...Ruth, for one. But it is usually the man who does the selection. Even Boaz had to initiate the actual marriage contract. Christ reaches down to us, calls us, according to Ephesians, to be His beloved. And the woman needs to respond. Sometimes this process is by wooing, and sometimes, like Paul, it is a blinding experience. Paul still had to submit, believe that God was talking to him, and answer the question,”Why are you fighting Me?” You don't get,”Resistance is futile!” You get the humbled Paul asking God who He really is. And God revealed Himself to Paul over the next few months and opened his eyes, physically and spiritually. And Paul then LOVED God. He accepted the proposal, married into the Family, and dressed in white for all eternity.

Has God tried to ask you out? Has His proposal gone unheard, been scoffed at, or have you turned Him down? The day will come when we will be naked before Him, either to consummate the marriage or to wilt in shame and despair. Nakedness between lovers in intimate and beautiful, and between enemies, it is humiliating and terrifying. The covering to follow can be reserved by coming to Christ, admitting that we cannot stand before Him, and need His immortality, His imperishable clothing in order to dwell with Him for all eternity. Forgiveness and intimacy through Jesus is the only way to order the wedding dress that we will look beautiful in forever. We say that a bride never looks more beautiful than the day she gets married...and in heaven we can keep that radiant beauty of loving our groom forever! Amen!