Sunday Best, or Narcissistic Worst?

Pink suits on men who have overeaten at every meal since 1997. Full pews, new hairdo's, intricate hats that should be in the Louvre. Brown babies with petroleum jelly glazed faces, tugging at their collars, and new shoe laces.

Easter, brothers and sisters, has arrived.

Remember Arsenio Hall, things that make you go hmmmmm? How about this to make you go hmmnm? If we know that our God has no concern with our exterior appearance. If we know that our Savior warned us against being men pleasers. If we understand that we are not to respect the 'man in the gay clothes' more than the man in the rags. If we understand these things, why on earth do we continue to pollute the most Holy day of the year with our foolish primping and parading? Who are we primping and parading for? God doesn't care what we look like.

Let's do something different next year. Let's take all that money we waste trying to look cute for Easter Sunday and donate it to someone who needs it. Or, better yet, let's actually put the money into God's house. It is reprehensible that we call ourselves Christians and we still hold on to traditions that are clearly not Biblical. We continue to edify ourselves instead of bringing glory to our God. If our purpose as Christians is to preach the gospel and bring glory to Him, how then is it that we will go into debt to glorify ourselves, but we pass the collection basket without putting anything in it. It is sad that old things are not truly passed away in the church. 

But our refusal to be outdone on Easter Sunday is a symptom, not the problem.  The real problem is in our hearts.  We love God, but we have not died to ourselves.  We do not crucify ourselves daily so we have overly inflated views of ourselves.  In our minds we are just as good as Sister Duflochee, or Brother Whodunit, so we are going to be just as fly as they are, if not more so.  If we saw how truly ugly we were in the eyes of a holy God, we wouldn't spend so much time playing dress up.  We would know that you can only dress up something that ugly so much, and even that is an inside out job. 

Have a wonderful Easter, Brothers and Sisters.  I love you.