We Take for Granted the Ability to Connect
This morning I woke with one main goal: to find the scripture that came to my mind while talking to a fellow-prayer warrior on the phone recently. She had been helping me wrestle down an answer as to what I should do regarding wearing my pink and brown camouflage outfit (when to wear it and when to not wear it, but to ensure that I was obedient either way)….
Through God, she led me to 2 Samuel 6 and told me the story of how David danced around in his ephod (underwear) after bringing the arc of the God from the house of Obed-Edom to the City of David with rejoicing. She went on to say that Michal, daughter of Saul, watched from a window and despised him in her heart. Essentially, she judged him for all his prancing around and celebrating God in his underwear. She had wickedness in her heart and chose to judge him based on what he was (or wasn’t wearing). But God judges the heart (not outward appearances); therefore, Micah was barren all the days of her life. And David, well, he was willing to “even become more undignified than this, and I will be humiliated in my own eyes” (2 Samuel 6:22).
I realize that we must be obedient and willing to make ourselves look like a fool to man for the sake of representing and praising God as He desires us to do, wearing whatever He instructs.
I reflected back upon a time where God told me to wear my Warrior Mom camouflage outfit, and I did, although I didn’t want to do so. I was snubbed and treated rudely; it wasn’t fun, but I knew that I was obedient. Through this experience, God taught me the importance of obeying Him rather than seeking mere man’s (or woman’s) approval. I am thankful for this experience.
Still in prayer about this, God led me to 1 Corinthians 9:19, “Though I am free and belong to no man, I make myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible. To the Jews I became like a Jew to win the Jews. To those under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law), so as to win those under the law. To those not having the law I became like one not having the law (thought I am not free from God’s law but am under Christ’s law), so as to win those not having the law. To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some. I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings.”
My friend continued to minister to me and she told me about a speaker who came from a different region and was dressed-up about 10 notches above the audience. (A fellow speaking-friend recently told me that I should be dressed 1 notch above my audience.) My friend expanded to tell me that because of the stumbling-block of being dressed 10 notches above the audience, this particular speaker wasn’t really “heard” by her audience until about half-way through the 2nd day’s message.
It was only after the speaker revealed some of her weaknesses, that she was “accepted” and/or “heard” by the audience. I see how her clothing was a stumbling block or more so a deterrent to her message, which was not a self-serving message about herself or her product; it was the important message of the hope and Gospel of Christ! Still, they still did not “hear” her until she became a weak human, rather than a dressed up lady in the eyes of the audience. And on the contrary, let us consider that she was wearing exactly what God told her to wear that day, all dressed up and looking nice as an example, as a source of encouragement for women in the audience to do the same for themselves to the best of their ability.
I consider it interesting and human nature that no matter whether the woman is all dressed up or not dressed up enough, in the opinion of that particular audience, people really do tend to size each other up quite a bit. Women especially size up other women. The world judges women by their beauty, their size, the name-brand of their clothes, their nails, their shoes, and their hair…their social status. Since the world does it to us, we have learned to do it to other women. Let me not get started on the actual measurements of Barbie and where all these unrealistic expectations towards women begins. In my opinion women are trying to figure out if the lady in front of them is prettier than them or if they are prettier than the lady in front of them. It can all be a huge distraction to the message of hope and encouragement that a woman may bring to other women. It prevents women from connecting for their good and God’s glory.
I sit here this morning, drinking my coffee, very humbled, sipping on the realization that we so often take for granted our ability to connect with others. It is my prayer that whatever we wear, or don’t wear, that we clothe ourselves in “whatever” God would clothe us in, or not in – that our hearts would be willing to dress a notch up, to dress exactly as our audience, or dress a notch down, in order that the Gospel of Christ would be preached and heard and that we in our ignorant, imperfect humanness would not be a stumbling block to those around us.
Kristina Seymour loves to encourage and equip women through the Word and through community. She is the author of The Warrior Mom Handbook, The Warrior Mom Leadership Manual, and The Warrior Wife Handbook; they are available at Amazon.com. Kristina's Bible studies are for women who desire to live by faith in the midst of their everyday lives. She has learned that women can't survive on caffeine and animal crackers alone; women in the Word and in community are united and able to stand firm. To learn more about Kristina, please visit her website, https://kristinaseymour.com/. God loves to share His story of love and grace through us all, and Kristina believes that everyone has a story to tell.
Originally published Tuesday, 05 January 2021.
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